A few days ago, I asked what folks’ favorite pairing with coffee was, and I got a lot of great responses. Seems people like coffee with almost every flavor, from fruit to nuts to chocolate and caramel. And then someone said “pumpkin.” Which got me thinking about pumpkin pie spice lattes and how they sound Ungood to me. But tons of folks love them, so I figured that that I should do some Further Investigation.
They don’t use actual pumpkin puree in the lattes, but they do use a pumpkin-flavored syrup of some sort. They whole thing is then sprayed with whipped cream and garnished with some pumpkin pie spice. I guess you’re supposed to stir everything together and Have At It.
Since many people Dig this flavor combo, I proposed adding some espresso flavor to pumpkin pie filling. I mean, why not, right? So, my plan was to do just That. But, as many of my plans do, this one took a Turn. I wanted something a bit more versatile than pumpkin pie filling. Sure, you can bake it into a pie (hence the name) or individual ramekins. I guess you could even swirl it into a brownie, but what I wanted was something that I could use as a filling for sweet rolls or sticky buns. And pumpkin pie filling Would Not Do.
So I turned to pumpkin butter. Espresso pumpkin butter. And, my friends, it is Excellent. I’ve had it on a spoon (yummy), spread on toast (oh, my) and as the filling for sweet rolls and sticky buns (Epic. I will be posting about that after the weekend). I think you could probably even reconstitute it into a pie filling by adding some SCM and egg and Such.
Hooray for versatile espresso pumpkin butter. It might not look like much, but it tastes like the essence of fall. Enjoy!
- 20 oz. canned pumpkin puree (NOT pie filling)
- 1 cup sugar (I used demerara)
- ½ cup apple cider
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon espresso powder (I used King Arthur)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground clove
- juice of half a lemon
- Cook all the ingredients except the lemon juice together over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly darker in color and much thicker.
- Stir in the lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.
- Chill and use however you want.
Lester was Very Afraid of the sounds of the thick butter burbling in the pot. Yet,
he could not look away!
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