Another Damn Cooking Blog

Autumn! It’s that time of year when everything everywhere is scented or flavored with pumpkin spice. I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin spice flavored stuff, but I do like actual pumpkin  with real, fresh spices in it.

Don’t worry, pumpkin spice haters. Pretty soon everything will be scented with pine and cinnamon when people start getting ready for Christmas…in late September.

For a true custard, you’d want to sub in half and half or heavy cream for the soy milk, but I like to use as little dairy as possible when I cook for other people. When it comes to topping things…that’s where the cream comes in, because it’s “optional”. For some people, anyway. For others, it’s a necessity. (Points to self.)

This is dairy free (if you use butter substitute) and gluten free. For a low glycemic version, skip the brown sugar. For a really low glycemic version, you can replace the 1/4 cup of honey with an equivalent of stevia or whatever you like to cook with. I’m not judging you for using an artificial sweetener. Not to your face, anyway.

• 1 small baked pumpkin or 15 oz can pumpkin
• ½ cup soy milk
• 4 eggs
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/8 cup brown sugar (optional)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 2 T fresh ginger or 1 t of dried ground ginger
• 2 T butter or butter substitute

Throw everything into a blender until smooth. Cook on stovetop for 15 minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn. Spoon into greased muffin pan, and cook for 30-40 minutes at 350, or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean.

Top with pretty much anything with the word “cream” in it: whipped cream, ice cream,cream cheese frosting…you get the idea. They are good without topping, too.

If you *don’t* want to put dairy on top of it, but want to add a little something to the top, try this:

• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/2 stick butter substitute
• 1/2 cup pecans (or any kind of nuts you like. I used almonds for this batch.)
• 1/4 teaspoon or so of nutmeg

Put everything into the food processor until it is combined. Take the custards out after 20 minutes of cooking, and put this mixture on top. Cook for another 10-20 minutes.