Cinnamon

Pumpkin Butter Cups

September 23, 2021
5
2 Ratings
Photo by Carolina Gelen
  • Prep time 15 minutes
  • Cook time 15 minutes
  • makes 24
Author Notes

Chocolate peanut butter cups, stand back. There’s another bite-size treat in town, perfect for fall: chocolate pumpkin butter cups. To make things easy, the recipe starts with a whole can of puréed pumpkin. Sweeten it with brown sugar and spice it up with a few ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen, like vanilla extract and ground cinnamon. If you don’t have (or don’t want to use) canned pumpkin, no worries—homemade pumpkin purée couldn’t be easier to make: Just roast pumpkin cubes in the oven at 425°F until soft and browned, then purée in a blender or blend by hand using a potato masher. You won’t use all of the pumpkin butter for these chocolate cups, but this is a good thing: In an airtight container, it’ll last in your fridge for up to 2 weeks. Add a dollop to warm oatmeal, spread it on pancakes, swirl it into brownies, mix into ice cream...the options are endless. —Carolina Gelen

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Ingredients
  • Pumpkin Butter
  • 1 (15-ounce/425-gram) can pumpkin purée
  • 1/2 cup (107 grams) brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
  • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • Chocolate Cups
  • 10 ounces (284 grams) dark chocolate, chopped (or 1½ cups dark chocolate chunks)
  • Flaky salt
Directions
  1. To make the pumpkin butter, combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick. Let it cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
  2. Line a mini muffin pan with paper liners. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie or in the microwave, mixing every 15 seconds. Evenly spread a thin layer of chocolate into each paper cup, coating both the bottom and the sides. Transfer to the freezer for about 5 minutes to set.
  3. Fill up each cup three-quarters of the way with pumpkin butter. (You won’t use all of the pumpkin butter. Save it in the fridge for smearing on toast or adding to a cheese plate.) Gently bang the pan on the counter to flatten the pumpkin butter. Now top with a layer of chocolate and a sprinkle of flaky salt. Cover and refrigerate to set and store.

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Carolina is a resident at Food52. She's also one of the hosts of Choose Your Own Recipe Adventure, our YouTube show where our Food52 readers pick the ingredients and techniques for a brand new recipe. Carolina recently immigrated to the U.S. from Transylvania, a place she spent most of her life. She continues to get inspired by the classic Romanian and Hungarian foods she was raised on, creating approachable, colorful, and fun recipes. For more cooking ideas and candid moments, check out her Instagram @carolinagelen.

2 Reviews

Sodapop811 February 24, 2022
Made these last Thanksgiving, they were the perfect fall dessert in lieu of pumpkin pie. My family loved them! Delicious and so simple, I’m going to whip up some more today as a treat.
Lars December 5, 2021
I love this recipe! The combo of pumpkin pie like filling with dark chocolate and flecks of salt is so great. Well worth the effort. I would like to try and make the filling a little smoother, maybe with some gelatin or tapioca flour to give it a slightly better texture.