Pumpkin Season! ~ Pumpkin Custard

At this time of the year, I love to cook with pumpkins. Sweet or savory, I love everything pumpkin. 🙂 (Almost as much as this little guy! Ha!) And right up there with pumpkin, as one of my favorite all time ingredients, is coconut. So this month I tried a new twist on pumpkin pie custard – I replaced the classic evaporated milk with coconut milk, and it worked beautifully! The texture and flavor are almost identical to the classic, but it has a very mild coconut taste, which I love! I have never been able to find an all-natural version of evaporated milk, so I feel a lot better about this recipe that is natural through and through. 🙂 You can use a natural frozen crust, but if you are like me, you just eat the custard part of the pie and leave the crust behind. Is it just me? OK, maybe I’m a little off the beaten path with this. 😉 But I would much rather have more filling than any crust! Because of that, I made these individual sized pumpkin custards. Basically they are small crustless pumpkin pies. 🙂

Pumpkin Custard

Based on a recipe from Cooking Light magazine

3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 3/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Pinch of salt

8-ounces whole coconut milk

2 large egg whites

1 large egg

15-ounces unsweetened pumpkin purée

Natural frozen pie crust (if you wish)

Whipped cream for serving

Preheat oven to 425°.

To prepare the custard, combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, and whisk until well blended. Add the pumpkin, and whisk until smooth.

Pour pumpkin mixture into either a crust or 6 small ramekins. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 350°. (Keep the custard in the oven.) Bake an additional 50 minutes for a large pie, or about 15 minutes for individual ramekins, until set. Cool completely before serving.

Serve with whipped cream.