Getting into the spirit of the season, I whipped up this no bake gluten free and vegan pumpkin custard. Quick and easy to make, it is also dairy free and the perfect way to end an autumn meal.

I am on a major pumpkin kick right now as is the rest of the family.  Last weekend, my husband took the boys and their friend Josh to purchase pumpkins for Halloween; upon return the three little ones spent hours in the back yard carving their jack-o-lanterns.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Custard
½ cup (raw) cashews
1 tablespoon agar flakes
1 pinch celtic sea salt
1 ¼ cups water, boiling
1 ½ cups roasted pumpkin (learn how to roast pumpkin in 10 easy steps!)
¼ cup agave nectar or honey (plus a little more if you want it sweeter)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground cloves
¼ teaspoon lemon zest

1. Place cashews, agar and salt in a vitamix and process to a fine powder
2. Pour boiling water into Vitamix and process on high speed
3. Add pumpkin, agave and vanilla and process again until smooth
4. Blend in cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and lemon zest
5. Pour custard into ramekins or half cup mason jars
6. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes
7. Serve

Makes 6 servings

I was determined to make a vegan custard, not the easiest thing since custard is basically made of eggs; After a bit of research I came upon this quick and easy no cook recipe which provided the inspiration for my custard base.  I am quite intrigued with this no fuss method of making custard and look forward to using it for many other flavor variations.

For this recipe and my others, I would not recommend using canned pumpkin.  First, I do my best to avoid canned foods whenever possible as most cans contain BPA, an endocrine disrupting agent linked to cancer.

Second, canned pumpkin is very wet, so I would not recommend substituting it for roasted pumpkin.  My pumpkin recipes aren’t written for such a watery ingredient and probably won’t turn out well, unless several adjustments are made.  If anyone does experiment with canned pumpkin, please stop by and leave a comment letting us know if it worked; there have been a couple of inquiries lately about this specific substitution.