If you thought you wouldn’t ever eat custard again after going on an egg-free diet, you’ll love my easy Pumpkin Custard recipe! This no bake custard is a quick and easy paleo vegan dessert. To make it you simply throw the ingredients in a high-powered blender, transfer to adorable mason jars, and then refrigerate.
Dairy-free Pumpkin Custard is the perfect paleo vegan dessert recipe for Thanksgiving. Because it’s so easy to make, it’s also fantastic last minute dessert recipe for Thanksgiving. I usually make my Thanksgiving desserts a day ahead of time, but this recipe is so easy that I whip it up right before we sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, and then pull it out of the refrigerator when it’s time for dessert.
We’re on a major pumpkin kick right now. Last weekend, my husband took the boys and their friend Josh to get pumpkins for Halloween. When they returned the three little ones spent hours in the back yard carving their jack-o-lanterns.
Pumpkin Custard
Ingredients
- ½ cup cashews, raw
- 1 tablespoon agar flakes
- 1 pinch celtic sea salt
- 1¼ cups water, boiling
- 1½ cups roasted pumpkin
- ¼ cup agave nectar or honey, plus a little more if you want it sweeter
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 teaspoons ground ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon lemon zest
Instructions
- Place cashews, agar, and salt in a vitamix and process to a fine powder
- Pour boiling water into vitamix and process on high speed
- Add pumpkin, honey, and vanilla and process until smooth
- Blend in cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and lemon zest
- Pour custard into ramekins or ½ cup mason jars
- Refrigerate 30-60 minutes, until set
- Serve
I’ve been creating loads of paleo vegan dessert recipes lately. Have you seen my Paleo Vegan Desserts Recipes page? Along those lines, I was determined to make this a vegan custard since so many of my readers are either vegan, or on an egg-free diet. Making a custard without eggs is not all that easy since eggs are traditionally the main ingredient in custard.
For this recipe, I would not recommend substituting canned pumpkin for the roasted pumpkin. Canned pumpkin is very wet, so this Pumpkin Custard recipe will be substantially altered by using such a watery ingredient. If you do decide to use canned pumpkin you will need to make several adjustments to compensate. I hope you’ll leave a comment if you do experiment with this recipe and use canned pumpkin.
Here are some of my other easy paleo vegan dessert recipes for you!
Christina says
Hi Elena, Thanks for saving my autumn. I love pumpkin! I just found out I am allergic to wheat, yeast, gluten, dairy, and eggs. AND.. my sugar is too high :( I generally eat meat and veggies. I was really sad about giving up my pumpkin, and now I don’t have to! One question… our whole foods does not have agar flakes, but powder.. how much difference is in the measurement?
elana says
Heidi,
Thanks for your comment. I think this might work, the custard is very firm and would set in it, my only hesitation is that it’s definitely more of a custard than a pie filling. I guess you could experiment with a pumpkin custard pie –if you do, please let me know how it turns out. I’m not sure how the crust for the chocolate cream pie would hold up with a fruit filling, might get soggy. I would recommend just doing the apple crisp instead.
Great questions; hope this helps!
Elana
Heidi says
Elana,
Just love your incredible site. Have a question about this luscious looking custard. Do you think it would work to take the crust from your Chocolate cream pie and put the pumpkin custard in it, a kind of mock pumpkin pie? Or is the consistency of the custard not stiff enough to hold up? Would more agar flakes thicken it? Also, is it possible to use the almond crust like a normal pie crust for a fruit pie (in other words the crust cooks along with the pie instead of being pre-baked.) Do you think that would work or be overcooked? Thanks so much for your ideas & help.
elana says
Alison,
That sounds great! Thanks for sharing your tip with us. Nice save.
Elana
Alison says
I used canned pumpkin and the custard did not set-up, but then I had a flash of brilliance and I made an oat crust with cinnamon, agave, and butter and lined a pie pan with it and filled it with the custard. It made a fantastic pumpkin pie. Try it out.
elana says
Miriam,
Thanks for sharing these versions with us –they look delicious!
xo Elana
miriam says
Elana,
I have been singing the praises of the pumpkin custard to anyone who will listen. I prepared it using fresh pumpkin, i left out the cloves (i am not a clove person) i decreased the nutmeg. It was fabulous—this is the first time i used agar. i ate all the dessert except one which i allowed my husband to eat. i researched the caloried count and am thrilled that pumpkin is so low in calories.
After having such a positive experience with the recipe and agar, i decided to try it using banana. i also decided that i wanted the recipe to be a tad sweeter, so i increased the amount of agave. well the result was terrible—too sweet and the texture wasn’t the same. I discussed it with a friend that understands the chemistry of cooking and she suggested that i increase the amount of cashews. i also mentioned that i wanted to try it with chocolate.
i am pleased to say that both recipes came out great.
i think it’s important to really blend the ingredients for a long time to get the best texture. The nice thing about these recipes is that you can taste it as you go along (there’s no egg) to get the right flavor. Anyhow—thanks again, as always your recipes are wonderful and inspiring.
elana says
Paulette,
Thanks so much for your comment, each of your comments is lovely and inspiring.
Take Care,
Elana
Paulette says
I just couldn’t help myself. I made a second batch of pumpkin custard only this time I used the agave instead of the rice syrup and honey I had to drive an hour to get the agave nectar but it was worth the drive. It was sooooo good. I’m going to try the pumpkin muffins tonight. I love cooking and I love eating so it’s great to get a recipe that I like that doesn’t have wheat, dairy and eggs in it. I use flax seed instead of eggs for my cooking. Anyway, I just wanted to drop you a line to say how good that recipe turned out. Have a blessed week.
elana says
Alchemille -Thanks or your comment, it’s due out in fall 2009…
Miriam -Thank so much for letting us know that the cake can be made with canned pumpkin.
Kate -Glad you found us and thanks for the great comment!