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This vanilla bean plum butter is the perfect use for summer plums. It’s slightly sweet with a big punch of vanilla bean flavor.
I love plum season. They taste sweet and tart and are the perfect snacking fruit. Of course, if you’re not in the mood to eat fresh fruit you can always preserve it by turning it into vanilla bean plum butter.
You can serve fruit butter on toast, spooned over ice cream, swirled into yogurt, or mixed with oatmeal. It’s the perfect fruit-flavored spread!
In fact, if you want to get super fancy you can use this exact recipe in these Vanilla Bean Plum Butter Crumble Bars. Please note: if you want to use it for my fruit crumble bars you’ll want to cook your fruit butter down until it’s very thick.
Be sure to read the full post for helpful tips on additions and FAQs.
Ingredients for vanilla bean plum butter
- Black plums
- Brown sugar
- Water
- Vanilla bean paste
How to make fruit butter
- Wash your plums, cut them in half, remove the pit, and quarter your plums.
- Add brown sugar and water and simmer for 25 minutes or until the plums are soft and falling apart.
- Add the hot plums and all the liquid to a high-powered blender (I used my Vitamix) and puree until smooth.
- Add the puree to the pot, stir in the vanilla bean paste, and cook on low heat until the mixture is thick and spreadable. This can take anywhere from 1 to 1.5 hours.
My Pro Tips
Recipe Tips
- Use fresh, ripe plums for the best sweet plum flavor.
- Add orange flavor using half orange juice and half water to cook down the plums.
- Don’t rush the process of cooking down the plum butter. You must cook fruit butter down slowly to concentrate the fruit flavor.
- Use a high-powered blender to puree the fruit smooth. My favorite brands are Vitamix and Blendtec.
- Blend the fruit mixture in two batches, and always hold the lid when blending hot food. The steam can build pressure and cause the lid to blow off.
Substitutions and adaptations
Love the idea of this vanilla bean plum butter but wanna make a few changes?
- Add warm spices like cinnamon, cloves, or nutmeg to give it a winter feel.
- In place of water use half orange juice or even prune juice.
- Use vanilla extract or scrape out a whole vanilla bean in place of vanilla bean paste.
FAQ’s for plum butter
More fruit spread recipes
Vanilla Bean Plum Butter
Ingredients
- 2 pounds black plums
- 1-½ cups brown sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
Instructions
- Cut your plums in half, take out the pit and cut the plums into quarters.
- Add to a medium sized pot (I used my 4.5 quart Le Creuset pot) along with your brown sugar and water. Stir to combine.
- Simmer on medium-high heat for about 25 minutes, or until the plums are soft and starting to fall apart.
- Add the hot plums and all the liquid to a high-powered blender (I used my Vitamix) and puree until smooth.
- Add the puree back to the pot, stir in the vanilla bean paste and cook down on low heat until the mixture is thick and spreadable. This can take anywhere from 1 to 1.5 hours.
- Note: If you want to use this fruit butter for toast or to spoon over ice cream you don't have to cook it down super thick. However, if you want to use these for vanilla plum crumble bars you need to cook it down until it's super thick so that they hold together when you cut the bars.
Notes
- This recipe makes 1-1/2 cups plum butter. Serving sizes are based on 2 tablespoon-sized servings.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This plum butter sounds as delicious as your trip to Costa Rico sounds wonderful, Will try it!
This turned out AMAZING!!! I have been stirring it into my oatmeal – swoon… tomorrow hoping my croissants come out (first time!) and I can spread on there!
Is this recipe suitable for canning the plum butter?
No, this is not a canning recipe.