CrockPot Bartlett Pear Butter

Pear Butter on toast

Inspired by the recipe for CrockPot Apple Butter at my favorite slow cooking blog (crockpot365.blogspot.com) and the three pounds of Bartlett Pears in my fridge, I decided to make pear butter. I like apple butter, but I like fresh apples and apple crisp so much that I'll eat through them long before I even consider making a batch. But pears just aren't my thing, unless they're sugared and cooked, and with three pounds on hand I could only justify using one pound for baking (I made pear turnovers).

The pear butter, however, is sweetened with the natural sweetness of the pears and a little clover honey. It's totally guilt-free and delicious.  It makes a good substitute for processed, sugar-filled jellies. This recipe makes about 2 cups of pear butter.

 Ingredients:

2 pounds of Bartlett pears (about 7), peeled, cored, and quartered

1 T vanilla extract

1/4 cup pure clover honey

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cloves

 1/2 tsp. ginger (or a little less)

Place prepared pears in CrockPot with the vanilla. Cook on low for four hours. Mash pears with honey and spices. (I think I might've used a little too much ginger, the butter is good when cold, but when I tried it warm the ginger was overwhelming, so alter the amount to suit your tastes.) Cook on low for an additional two hours.

You can easily modify this recipe to match your tastes and the ingredients you have on hand. If you've got both apples and pears, use a mixture for apple-pear butter. Don't like ginger? Leave it out. Sick of how everything in the fall tastes like cinnamon? Replace it with some other good baking spices like nutmeg or allspice.

Serving suggestions:

Pear butter on toast

Peanut butter and pear butter sandwiches (my favorite lunch this week).

Stir into oatmeal

Topping for pancakes or waffles

Topping for ice cream

And the best part? The recipe made my apartment smell like cinnamon while it cooked.

Happy Autumn!