Sugar-Free & Dairy-Free Spiced Pudding

I wanted to create a healthy, sugar-free, vegetable-based pudding, and came up with this creamy, filling dessert made with yams. I know that sounds gross, but it tastes like sweet potato pie, but with a lot less calories, very little fat, no sugar, no butter and not one drop of oil. The sweetness comes from the yams, cinnamon, and a little bit of monk fruit from the coconut milk. Make sure to use the brand of coconut milk I suggested below, because it won’t come out quite right with another brand (I tried a few). If you can’t find that brand, use a plain coconut milk and add a little bit of your favorite sweetener. Even though the directions make it appear a lengthy process, it’s actually really easy and I just used one bowl to stir and cook all the ingredients.

Spiced Yam Pudding

• 31 ounces of yams, peeled and cubed (about 2 yams)
• 2 cups water, filtered
• 2 teaspoons each of cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, alcohol-free vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups toasted coconut almond milk blend by Califia Farms

Place the yams in a large microwavable glass bowl and add the 2 cups of water. Place bowl in microwave and cover with a paper towel. Cook yams in microwave for 15 minutes. Place a hot pad on the counter. After the yams are cooked, use two hot pads to remove bowl from microwave (because the bowl will be extremely hot) and place on counter to cool. After 5 minutes, remove paper towel from bowl, throw paper towel away, and allow the yams to cool down.

After 20 minutes, the yams and the bowl should be cool enough to handle, if not, let it sit longer. Pour yams carefully into a colander to remove as much water as possible. Wipe out any water and moisture from the glass bowl. Let the yams sit in the colander 5-10 minutes to drain completely. Put the yams back in the glass bowl, and add the cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Mash with a potato masher. To make sure there aren’t any vegetable chunks, with a mixer, blend yams on low speed while adding the coconut milk slowly. While it may appear a bit watery, it will thicken up. Place bowl in the refrigerator overnight, covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, making sure the wrap/foil doesn’t touch the pudding. You want the pudding to cool completely to thicken up.

 When the pudding is cool after being in the refrigerator at least 12 hours, use a spoon and mix gently. Pour into 4-6 small bowls, top with dairy-free whipped cream (optional, but much better with it), chopped pecans, and toasted coconut chips.

If you make this dessert, send your photos to me @fitgirlusa to repost.