Plum butter

Okay, so like I was saying yesterday, I found myself so inspired by the lovely cool weather we're having that I found myself in the kitchen wanting to find a use for the local plums I'd impulsively bought on the weekend (there's a theme here, I'm sensing). I decided I wanted to try my hand at a fruit butter. Just to recap...

I peeled and chopped a couple of the apples, pitted and chopped about a dozen plums and stemmed a handful of the grapes. I popped them all into my small crock pot and added a little leftover hard cider and some local dark maple syrup. I left the lid ajar and turned the crock on high.

The plan was once it was bubbling I'd turn it down to low and let it go all day. At some point I'd adjust the sweetness and decide if I wanted to add spices or if I wanted a more pure fruit butter. Then I figured I'd strain out the skins later.

Instead I used my stick blender to puree the fruits once they were soft. Then I forgot to plug the crock pot back in (had to unplug it to plug in the blender). So the mixture sat for a few hours around suppertime, just hanging out. I noticed my oversight and turned the crock on low and put the lid on overnight. This morning I once more slipped it off to the side. Then I tasted it, adjusted the sweetness with some brown sugar and added about a teaspoon or so of cinnamon. Enough to warm it, but not enough to flavour it outright.

This afternoon it was ready. Thick, brown, tangy and still tasting of plums. I ladled it into two small canning jars and processed them for 10 minutes in boiling water. Both lids popped. Always a good sign.

So now I have a lovely (predominantly) plum butter ready for use on toast or mixed with a little icing sugar to spread between spice cookies. Mmmmmm.....