Last week, I thought I wanted pumpkin ice cream. Lucky me, the seasonal flavor is in stores right now, so I made a late night trip to Safeway, only to come home with a tub of ice cream that left me unsatisfied. I realized what I really wanted was pumpkin pie innards, or pumpkin custard.

Just that sweet, dense, pumpkiny goodness with warm fall spices. No crust. Nothing complicated. Oh, and all I had in terms of milk was coconut milk, so it also had to be dairy free.

Thank goodness for this lovely recipe I found. I happened to have all the ingredients. And within an hour, I got to satisfy my pumpkin pie innards craving, though it tasted much better once it cooled down. I altered the original recipe a bit to make it simpler and added some more fall spices to the mix.

Ingredients:

• 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
• scant 1/4 c sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ¼ tsp cloves
• ¼ tsp cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2/3 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• Optional toppings: drizzle of maple syrup, coconut cream “whipped cream” (scrape the solid part out of a can of coconut milk; mix it with a little sugar and vanilla extract), coconut flakes, cinnamon sprinkle

Directions:

• Mix together pumpkin and all dry ingredients. Add eggs and whisk until just combined. Slowly add the coconut milk and syrup until mixed throughout.
• Divide the batter into around 10 small (4 oz) canning jars. Place jars in a high-rimmed tray and fill the tray carefully with 1 inch of boiling water.
• Bake at  375F, for 30-35 minutes, until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
• Cool jars on a wire rack. Store in the refrigerator.
• Serve and enjoy!