Pumpkin Honey Butter

With Fall right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to dive into pumpkin early. I kind of cheated a couple weeks ago and let a pumpkin recipe drop early - my Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Muffins were totally worth it, though. 

Today? This one's a total gem! Honey butter and I have always been good friends. I don't make it nearly as often as I'd like, but when I do, it's magically disappears along with an entire half loaf of bread within a day or two. Total mystery, I know. Now we're throwing pumpkin in the mix, and all bets are off. It was a total hit (especially with my darling niece), and I can't believe I haven't made another batch to smother on pancakes or some thick french toast! 

With each spread of this honey butter on whatever bread you like best (we tried it with pumpernickel this time, but MAN this would have really rocked some cinnamon swirl bread!), you'll get a zing of honey sweetness, with the softness of heavenly whipped butter, that familiar pumpkin flavor shines right through, and then you'll taste a little pinch of warmth from the pumpkin spice and cinnamon. They all come together beautifully in a gorgeous swirl of pumpkin honey goodness. It gets hard to be a little light-handed with the buttering knife with this stuff! SO good! 

I laughed when my nephew said "cupcake?!" when he saw these - it totally does look like a cupcake with those tall swirls (just like how I do my cupcakes). It really takes even less time to make this whipped pumpkin honey butter than it would to make frosting. It all comes together so quickly - just a quick whip in the stand mixer, and you're there. If you'd like to give it a little chill to harden up the butter, that works fine, too. You most definitely want to save this recipe for your next batch of homemade rolls & bread this fall. Enjoy! 

Pumpkin Honey Butter

makes 1 1/2 C

ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 t pumpkin pie spice

1/3 C 100% pumpkin puree

4 T honey 

1 t vanilla

1 t cinnamon

method:

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the unsalted butter alone until it's whipped until it's soft and thin. Switch to the whisk attachment. Add in the pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin puree, honey, vanilla, and cinnamon. Whip until soft and fluffy. Serve immediately or refrigerate for 1 hour (up to a couple days). 

Recipe source: baking with blondie