Pear Butter

We got some pears from Costco last week and had been enjoying them.  They were so sweet and delicious!  But we just couldn't eat them all before they started to get too ripe!  So I searched online for ideas to put these pears to good use before they completely died.  And then I found this gem of a recipe.  Pear butter.  Yum!  I've had apple butter before and thought about making it, but never had.  And now I've made this pear butter and I think I'll always buy too many pears just so I can make it! It's that good!  And it made my whole house smell AMAZING while it was cooking!  We've been enjoying it on homemade bread as an after school snack this week.  Here's the recipe, or check out the link above.  Mine did turn out a little too thin so I put it in a fine mesh strainer to get rid of the extra liquid, but I think I'll just cook it longer next time.

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

DIRECTIONS:

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.