Kyl Haselbauer has 20 years of experience working in fine-dining and modernist kitchens, including Bar Cotto and Anchovies &amp; Olives in Seattle. He is also the owner of Bright Spot, a café and coffee shop in Seattle.

Kyl Haselbauer

An ultra-smooth, ultra-creamy, egg-less pudding with all the flavor of a (good!) pumpkin pie.There’s nothing worse than taking a bite of a pumpkin pie with a curdled texture and muddy flavor, especially if you’ve spent hours putting it together. This pudding recipe, based on <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/vegan-no-bake-chocolate-custard">my recipe for egg-free chocolate “custard,”</a> comes together in just a few minutes and its flavors are clean and clear, all pumpkin and pumpkin spice with no eggs or dairy to get in the way, with the super creamy and super smooth texture of the best custard you’ve ever had.The technique is simple—all you need is a scale, a blender, a pot, and a food processor—even if <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/the-science-of-fluid-gels">the chemistry of fluid gels</a> is a little complicated. A combination of cashews, coconut oil, and the <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/unlock-your-hydrocolloid-starter-pack">super hydrocolloid</a> low-acyl gellan thickens and enriches the puréed pumpkin base without compromising any of its flavor.The one caveat to using gellan is that it&#39;s always important to use a precise digital scale—accurate to 1/10th of a gram—to measure it out. A little goes a long way; add too much, and the mixture will become too firm. You can fill a jar or a serving cup with the pudding and top it with some <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/skinny-whip-2-0">Skinny Whip 2.0</a> for a totally vegan dessert. But if you and your guests are fine with a little dairy in your diet, top it with streusel for an elegant home run of a Thanksgiving dessert, or pour the hot custard straight out of the blender into a blind-baked pie crust, let it set, and you’ve got an excellent “custard” pie.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie Pudding