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 didn’t use the measurements, just chopped up some pears and added the rest. No honey so I used a small amount of home made hickory syrup. But you could use maple syrup too. Turned out really well – my kids loved it.
Will this thicken more as it cools
Made this yesterday. Delicious! I cooked it down quite awhile to thicken. I popped one jar in the freezer to see how it will do. Thanks for the recipe!
How did it do after freezing?
I made this and it tastes wonderful! I only had 2/3 of the amount of pears called for, and adjusted the other ingredients accordingly. I let it simmer just a bit longer and left it slightly chunky. Can’t wait to try it on some pumpkin bread I’m making! Thanks for the recipe! It makes the kitchen smell heavenly!
Wow! This was amazing! The first batch was completely gone in one sitting at dinner, so I doubled the next batch. Note: The second time around I was worried there may not be enough liquid, so I added a little water. I will not do that again. Made it just a tad bit too runny. The batch without water was better.
It’s easy and delicious. Love that it uses honey vs. sugar.
If you wanted to can this, do you know what he processing time would be?
Can I use apples instead of pears and get apple butter?
This is the basic Recipe I have used for over 25 years to make pear butter with my sixth grade classes! So easy and so yummy!
Made it and it is so yummy.