Pumpkin Pie Parfait
A light autumnal dessert peppered with warming spices, this pumpkin pudding uses tinned purée to save you time and effort. Think all the flavours of a pumpkin pie but with much less hassle.
From the book
The Whole Vegetable
Seasonal, veg-centric recipes
Simple recipes that happen to be vegan
Ideas for every occasion and every time of year
Introduction
I made this dessert for one of my first major catering jobs, served in tall glass ramekins I’d bought especially for the event and prepared really carefully. I’d seen something similar when roaming around the internet, and re-creating it at this time of the year seemed like a must. It’s not too sweet but can be quite rich, so you don’t need a lot of it, which is why it’s a perfect sweet at any time of the day – dessert doesn’t just have to be at dinner!
Ingredients
| 1 x 400g tin of | full fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight (you can also buy pure coconut cream – if you have access to this, go ahead and buy 1 tin, and use approx. half) |
| Approx. 90g | pumpkin purée (or see note for homemade) |
| Approx. 60ml | pure maple syrup |
| 1 | small lemon, juiced, plus a dash of zest |
| 1-2 tbsp | arrowroot powder |
| 1 tsp | pure vanilla extract |
| 1 tsp | ground cinnamon |
| ½ tsp | grated nutmeg |
| ½ tsp | ground ginger |
| A large pinch of | salt |
| To serve: | |
| coconut yoghurt/ cream | |
| toasted nuts | |
| granola |
Essential kit
You will need: a food processor.
Method
Remove the tinned coconut from the fridge. When you open the tin, you will see a thick layer of pure coconut cream at the top. (If you are using tinned coconut cream already, you won’t have any liquid in the can.) Remove the cream and transfer it to a food processor, trying to avoid as much of the liquid as possible. You can save the liquid in the fridge to use in another recipe.
Add the pumpkin, maple syrup, lemon juice and zest, 1 tablespoon of the arrowroot, the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt to the processor. Blend on a high speed until you get a creamy smooth mousse-like texture. The arrowroot will help to thicken the mixture, and you’ll notice as you blend that it will start to do so – add the other tablespoon for a thicker texture.
Once the mixture is thick, you’re ready to serve. Place in a bowl or jar with any additional toppings you like. For a parfait style as suggested, place a couple of dollops in a jar, followed by some coconut yoghurt/cream, toasted nuts or granola.
Note: If you want to use fresh pumpkin for this recipe, rather than ready-made purée, you can steam/boil or roast (plain) the amount you need and use it in place of the purée listed above. Occasionally I’ll cook a whole load in advance so I’ll be able to use it in a few different recipes as well as just having it left over for salads, soups, etc. Once you’ve cooked the pumpkin, just mash it with a fork or pulse it in a blender until smooth.
