9.24.2012

Crock Pot Pear Butter (Awesome Sauce)

This weekend, we were invited over to a friend's house to pick pears - I love free produce! I was busy with The Munchkin, so The Man went. When he left, I told him it would be great to have a couple shopping bags of pears...I said, "Maybe two bags." Lo and behold, The Man came home, backed his car up to the front porch, and unloaded four shopping bags and an outdoor trash bag...all stuffed full of pears!! I was immediately overwhelmed, and I began searching the Interwebs for recipes and ideas.


It was already dinner time, and I knew I didn't have anywhere near enough jars to make anything and get it canned before bed, so I settled on a recipe I found for Pear Butter. The recipe was a crock pot recipe and suggested at least 24 hours of cooking. It also didn't require peeling the pears, so I knew I could get a batch in the crock pot, let it cook overnight and while I was at work today, and it would be ready after dinner tonight. So away I went, washing, coring, and chopping pears.

The end result is fabulous, so I wanted to share it with you. The recipe I used comes from "Hey What's For Dinner Mom?", a blog I follow. It's a very simple recipe, using whole, fresh ingredients (which we all know I love)! :) Even if you don't usually keep whole nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla beans on a regular basis, they're worth having for this recipe. Find a friend with these items or splurge a little and buy your own - trust me, you won't regret it!

(makes about 7 half-pint jars)

10 pounds pears, cored & roughly chopped
1/2 t freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 t freshly ground cinnamon
2 vanilla beans, split & scraped (throw the bean in the pot as well)
1/4 c water
sugar (to taste - only necessary if your pears aren't quite ripe and sweet)

Place all ingredients in a large oval crock pot. Cook on low overnight.


Wake up to the fabulous smell of autumn, and joyously get out of bed to quickly mash the pears with a potato masher. Resist the urge to sit down and eat the entire batch...go to work. :)

Come home from work and have dinner with your family...resist the urge to serve this for dinner!

If you prefer a smooth pear butter, run the pears through a food mill, food processor, or hit them with an immersion blender (I used a food mill with the fine milling disk). If you like the chunkier texture, just mash the pears with a potato masher.


If you're canning: Transfer the mixture to hot, sterilized jars. Process in boiling water for 10 minutes.

If you want to eat it now: Skip the jars and grab a spoon!

Enjoy!

4 comments:

  1. thanks for posting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I propose a 1-4-1 trade - your pear goodness for Tisdale Cabernet..........

    ReplyDelete