This past weekend was everything I love about Fall.
Long walks with friends in the crisp autumn air. Lazy mornings enjoyed at the coffee shop nextdoor. Days snuggled in cozy sweaters and fluffy slippers. Turning leaves everywhere on fire with color. Catching up on episodes of my favorite fall shows, and then watching a moving book club pick come to life in the theater with friends. Taking full advantage of Daylight Savings Time to sleep in an extra hour. Sunday morning worship and words.
And of course, in my opinion, all good weekends must include some quality time in the kitchen.
This particular weekend was all about the pears for me. Ever since my trip in October to visit Harry & David, I have been craving pears nonstop. And then somehow buying them nonstop. :)
So to use up a few leftover ripe pears this weekend, I decided to make a quick small batch of stovetop pear butter. It’s basically like apple butter — but with pears!
This is no all-day, enormous batch, canning recipe though. Just an easy pear butter recipe that can be ready to go in 1 hour. It’s also naturally sweetened with honey, so you can feel good about generously layering a little extra onto your toast or muffin or wherever you may enjoy your pear butter.
I’ll add it to my list of things I love about fall. It’s seasonal, full of yummy spices, and oh-so-comforting and sweet.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Easy Pear Butter
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. ripe pears, peeled, cored and diced
- 3 Tbsp. honey
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- pinch of groud nutmeg
- pinch of ground cloves
Instructions
- Stir all ingredients together in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 50 minutes, covering so that the lid is slightly open, and stirring occasionally. Keep an eye on the mixture so that the bottom does not burn. Once it has reduced slightly and thickened, remove from heat and transfer to a food processor. Pulse until smooth. (Or you can skip this step and keep the pear butter chunky.)
- Transfer to canning jars or a heat-proof container, seal, and refrigerate until ready to use. Keep for up to a week.
- *If your pear butter is too thin, feel free to run the mixture through a strainer to remove extra liquid. Alternately, let the mixture simmer on the stove longer to reduce more.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
I made this and put in the county fair and won first place. I’m so happy thank you so much for this recipe it taste wonderful. ?
So thrilled to see a recipe that sweetens with honey!!! I have pears ripening on my counter and I can’t wait to make your recipe! :)
Thanks Christina! We hope you enjoy this!
Can this recipe be frozen?
Hi Katy! Hmmm, good question. We haven’t tried freezing this ourselves but we think it should be okay. We hope you enjoy!
How many oz does this recipe make?
Hi Lakin — this recipe yields about 2 cups, so it should be about 16oz.
Just finished making this Pear Butter recipe, in an RV no less. Turned out yummy! Thanx for the recipe.
Wow, we’re impressed! :D And we’re so glad you enjoyed it!
Just made a batch of this using 2 very large , very ripe pears plus one granny smith apple. OMG so delicious!
Thanks for sharing, we’re so glad you enjoyed this! :D
I just tried this with about 20 lbs of pears. Unfortunately I did the math and added the cinnamon and it was way too much. I should have been tasting it a bit at a time. At least my daughter says she likes it. Good thing, she’s got about a gallon and a half of pear butter in her future!
Oh no! We’re glad your daughter likes it though! Maybe you could make another batch, or at least a half batch without cinnamon, and mix the two together to salvage it? We’ve had to do that to things where we’ve accidentally added too much spice, and it usually helps a lot!
Those of you that have made this recipe and put it through a hot water bath how long does that preserve the pear butter?
I just so happened to have exactly 3lbs of pears from our pear tree. I made the pear butter today and it came out great! My family really enjoyed it. Thanks!
Wow, lucky you! We wish we had a pear tree! :) We’re so glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe!
made this today 9 lbs of pears put up 6 jars.. Tastes Great!!thanks for sharing!!
That’s awesome Melissa, thanks for giving the recipe a try — we hope you enjoy all that pear butter! :)