Made with fresh pears & a pinch of cardamom, this Slow Cooker Spiced Pear Butter is a delicious way to celebrate the flavors of fall...
A few weeks ago, my grandmother called me to ask if I would be interested in taking any pears. A former neighbor of hers had called telling her how their pear trees in their yard were just overflowing with ripe fruit, and they hated to see all of it just fall to the ground and rot.
So my grandmother had already planned to head over with my grandfather and do a little pear picking when she had called me.
Did I want some?? Ummmmm.. yeah!
Now what to do with an overabundance of pears? Do what I do when I have a lot of apples after apple picking- make slow cooker fruit butter! :)
My Homemade Crock Pot Apple Butter is my #2 all-time most viewed post, so I figured I couldn't go wrong by coming up with a pear version of my most popular slow cooker recipe. I kept most of the recipe the same, but tweaked a few of the spices.
Can I tell you all a secret?
I actually like this Slow Cooker Spiced Pear Butter better than my Crock Pot Apple Butter.
I know... gasp.
I really think it might be the different texture... and the addition of the cardamom.
As you can see, I always like to leave a little chunk in my fruit butters. I have been eating this on everything.
On waffles, biscuits, English muffins... straight out of the jar. ;)
Yield: Approx. 3 pint jars
Slow Cooker Spiced Pear Butter
prep time: 20 min cook time: 8 hours total time: 8 hours & 20 min
ingredients:
- 12 medium pears, peeled, cored, & chopped
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1 cup apple juice
- 2 whole cinnamon sticks
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
instructions:
How to cook Slow Cooker Spiced Pear Butter
- Toss the chopped pears in the slow cooker. Then pour in the apple juice. Dump in the brown sugar and the ground spices and then stir to mix. Add your cinnamon sticks to the mixture.
- Turn your slow cooker on low and cook for 6-8 hours. Every hour or so, stir the mixture to make sure the cinnamon is getting mixed in well.
- Remove the cinnamon sticks and then ladle about half of the cooked down pears to a blender. Blend until smooth. Mix back into the slow cooker with the remaining cooked down pears and spices. If you prefer a completely smooth pear butter, puree it all in batches in a blender or food processor. **Note- please make sure to let the pears cool slightly in the blender before placing the lid on and blending. The heat from the pears will cause the lid of the blender to get vacuum sealed on if you try to blend them before they have cooled somewhat.
- You can choose to can your spiced pear butter or refrigerate it and use within 2-3 weeks. I typically do not can this as it makes a small batch, and it almost always gone within two weeks in my house.
- Enjoy!
How do you prefer your fruit butters? Smooth or a little (or maybe a lot) chunky?
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