Pumpkin Maple Crème Caramel

Put a crème caramel in front of me and I absolutely melt. As a kid, I thought crème caramel was a fancy pants dessert that people only ate in restaurants. Given even the most tantalizing of dessert menus, if I saw crème caramel on it, my decision was already made. But sometime during my teenage years, I learned how easy it is to make at home, and between homework and band practices, I began regularly churning out little ramekins of crème caramel and other flan variations (coffee flan was a big hit for a while). This was all much to my moms delight since she shared my custard obsession. Theres nothing quite as simple as whisking together eggs, milk, and sugar, tucking it into the oven, and waiting for it to magically settle into a dainty wobble and become the ultimate comfort food: sweet silky goodness. Though its a dessert best eaten cold, Ive always associated it with fall since thats when I always used to make it.

For some reason, Ive fallen out of the habit of making flans and crème caramel. But as we are all constantly reminded these days, its the season of pumpkin spice everything and I can never resist jumping on the pumpkin recipe bandwagon. Ive had pumpkin flan on the brain for a while so I decided to introduce these two old fall friends to each other: pumpkin meet crème caramel. Crème caramel meet pumpkin. They are getting along swimmingly. So much that I thought this friendship should be shared with you all. I used only maple syrup to sweeten this dessert. I kept the spice to just a hint of nutmeg. The result is a simple, elegant and decadent dessert that uses no refined sugar. For gluten-free friends and family, its also a great alternative to pumpkin pie and it can be prepared a day in advance.

As a final word, in my kitchen, I use the term pumpkin fairly loosely. For most pumpkin-based desserts, I actually use winter squash instead. I find the flesh richer, thicker, sweeter, smoother, more flavorful, less watery Need I say more? This dessert works perfectly well with pumpkin purée, but if you really want to step it up a notch, use roasted winter squash instead. I recommend Kabocha or Red Kuri. Enjoy!

Aube is a passionate organic gardener and home cook who likes to share the stories of how food gets to our dinner plates. Her work has been shown on television and at international film festivals. Her web series has been nominated for multiple James Beard Awards for Best Video Webcast (On Location). In 2012, she was the recipient of Saveur Magazine's Best Food Blog award in the video category.