Maple Pear Butter is the Fall jam you wish for

This maple pear butter is sweetened with maple syrup and spiced up with chai spice blend for a perfect Fall jam.

Best part is that you can get this pear butter going and leave it to cook on its own.

Just like my homemade apple butter this is a set it and forget it kind of recipe, which I love for homemade spreads and jam. Sometimes making jam can be a sweaty affair, so I love it when I can make small batch jams that don’t take over my kitchen or my day. Since I no longer have fruit growing at my house, this lets me get small bits of produce when it’s good (or frozen fruit anytime of the year) and put it up without a fuss. For other jams like this, try my easiest strawberry jam, blueberry maple whiskey jam or my amaretto raspberry jam.

You’ll love the smooth complex flavors of pear in this easy to make pear butter. And once you have a batch, you just might need to make a quick round of sour cream biscuits to slather it on. Let’s go!

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Maple Pear Butter

Why pear butter might kick apple butter off the top of the hill

1. Low sugar: we’re using maple here to sweeten things up. This means there’s no refined sugar in this spread and you get the complex caramel flavors of maple that pair so well with pears. I’ve never been an “add cups and cups of sugar” to jam kind of girl as I want to taste the FRUIT in my jams, not just the sweet.
2. Walk away: literally you can set your slow cooker to make this overnight and wake up to fresh pear butter that’s ready to slather on things like everyday bread, pear streusel muffins or apple butter muffins. I thought my homemade apple butter was easy, but I made it easier still.
3. Chai spices: cardamom and star anise might be my favorite thing to add to pears, and my chai spice blend has them in spades. You get just enough spice to meld with the pears into a cozy complex flavored spread that’ll have you digging out a spoon.
4. Sophisticated: the flavors of pear are more delicate than apple butter. In song if apple butter is “You’re a Grand Old Flag”, then pear butter is “Misty.” (Unrelated–Ella Fitzgerald’s rendition of “Misty” is one of the best things ever recorded. Give a listen for sweet listen to while baking tunes.). Apple butter got all fairy-godmothered and showed up to the ball.

Equipment for making slow cooker pear butter

• Slow cooker
• Jars: easiest way to store this. Pint Mason jars are perfect.

Tips for the best pear butter

1. Use your warm setting: the maple has a higher tendency to burn vs. sugar, but I’ve found in my batches that the warm setting on the slow cooker is just perfect.
2. Add in vanilla last: if you’re using vanilla sugar, you can add it at the beginning, but otherwise, add the vanilla in last. Extract (in the vanilla paste as well as extract itself) will evaporate over the long cook, giving you less vanilla flavor. When the jam is done cooking, stir it in before jarring it up.

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