Butternut Squash Baked Custard
A Vegan Dessert Adaptation for Late Fall to Early Spring.
Feb 14, 2009
Fantastic for holiday gatherings or any cool-weather occasions from Halloween through early spring or St. Patrick’s Day, or anytime the craving for warm, rich and healthful sweetness comes up. When butternut squash is in season, vegetarians and vegans can have a field day inventing ways to replace traditional turkey with the squash where it gets its name.
This recipe has been adapted from a sweet potato pie recipe by Amadea Morningstar, in her book of Ayurvedically-tuned recipes geared toward Westerners’ palates. Transforming it into the following custard eliminates the need for crust and is still just as satisfying! You might want to try this same procedure with pumpkin or sweet potato instead of the butternut. They'd probably taste just as good.
Butternut Squash Baked Custard
Ingredients
- 2 small butternut squash
- egg replacer equivalent of two eggs
- 1 package of silken firm style tofu
- 3 T sesame oil
- 1 C organic whole sugar or other sweetener
- 1 T blackstrap molasses
- 1 t cinnamon
- 1/2 t ground ginger
- 1/4 t nutmeg
- 1/4 t mace
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 t vanilla extract
Preparing the Squash, Building the Custard, Baking and Serving:
- Peel, trim off the ends and put in a pot of boiling water the 2 small butternut squash, scored with a sharp knife or fork in two or three places.
- Bring water back to boiling, and then reduce to medium heat. Cook until squash are soft 30-45 min.
- Combine in a blender or food processor the Egg replacer equivalent of two eggs (see amounts on box).
- Then, gradually blend with that, in one inch chunks: 1 package of firm style silken tofu and the cooked butternut squash.
- Now add all of the remaining ingredients and blend the custard again.
- Pour the custard in to a baking dish about the size of a small pie plate or an 8 x 8 inch square pan.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until set. If you prefer to bake it in separate, single-serving dishes, reduce the baking time by about 15-20 minutes. Allow it to cool for at least 10 minutes.
- Serve hot or cold, with or without soy or dairy whipped cream, or soy, rice or dairy ice cream, for that matter. Soy or dairy milk on top can also be a nice addition.
YUM!
PS- Kids and other meat-eating loved ones may be shocked to learn in retrospect about the presence of tofu in this desert. There’s no need to clue them in on the tofu ahead of time if they have aversions to it. It’s okay for healthy cooks to be sneaky as long as it’s for your eaters’ best interests, both in the short-term taste and the long-term health.
References:
Morningstar, Amadea. “Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners.” Twin Lakes: Lotus Press,
1995.
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