Remember my banana dessert trick that I like so much? The mashed and whipped up banana with whatever fun additions you like? Well, I’ve stumbled on to something else completely delicious and have gone completely overboard with it! But if your options on a night you’re destined to sabotage your healthy ways are this or a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, this should do the trick.
So I had a large can of pumpkin pie mix in my pantry from the holidays. I had every intention to bake a pie, but never got around to it, so on a night I wanted to experiment making a new kind of dessert I opened it up. I was really good at first. It was one of those super large cans, so I took out maybe a third of it and put the rest in a freeze-able container. I mixed a few scoops of the pumpkin mix (already has the sugar and spices included, so it’s a no-brainer) and a few scoops of my favorite yogurt: So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt in the plain variety. Amazing. For texture I threw in a few crushed pecans. Holy Cow was it delicious. I couldn’t believe how pumpkin pie-y it really was. So I was hooked. And I was on a mission to experiment adding other things to it. In the days following I finished the small amount I left refrigerated and unfortunately dove into the frozen batch. Sigh…sugar addiction in an upswing! So, my recommendation to you would be a) to only buy a small can and share the dessert with the ones you love or to b) get a can of plain pumpkin, not the pumpkin pie, and add your own sweetener and pumpkin pie spices: cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, I believe. Then you can pick and choose your favorite flavor ratio and your sweetener (as long as it’s not artificial!) of choice. Since I don’t eat regular yogurt, I don’t know how it would taste mixed with a cow’s milk yogurt, but I do know that the coconut milk yogurt isn’t nearly as tart as yogurt made out of animal milk, so it might not blend as seamlessly as the coconut variety. The Westerly Market on 54th and 8th Ave has 4-serving size tubs of this yogurt, so I recommend you scoop a few up New Yorkers!
In any event, in the days following my initial delicious discovery I’ve experimented with several combinations. All winners in my book:
1. Mixed the pumpkin with almond butter and spread on toast.
2. Stirred almond butter into the yogurt/pumpkin mix for texture and protein.
3. Added hemp powder (a protein powder made of hemp seed that ranks superior in nutrition, particularly fatty acid ratios- and no, you can’t get high from it. It’s a different plant than what they make marijuana from). I found that the addition of the protein powder even gives an extremely close resemblance to the true texture of actual baked pumpkin pie without the crust. It’s amazing.
4. Added ground flax to the above mixture.
5. Added all, almond butter, ground flax AND the protein powder.
Pumpkin has sooooo many great things about it including fiber, Vitamin C, E, potassium, magnesium and carotenoids, so it’s a great food to try to incorporate in meals. Just don’t go overboard with the sugar, as the canned pumpkin pie mix is definitely sweet!
Like I said, this is a better choice than many other death by dessert options you may be faced with and it is truly satisfying, but like all things sweet, a little goes a long way. So be wise. If you do go for the no-brainer option and get a can of pumpkin pie mixture, read the ingredients and just make sure it isn’t sweetened with corn syrup. Real sugar only!
But I’m definitely making this for Thanksgiving next year to enjoy while everyone else is stuffing their faces with creamy and milky and crusted pie. And I honestly think I won’t feel left out! The proof is in that I made it for Ameesh the other night (pumpkin/yogurt/hemp powder combo) and even HE thought it was delicious.
