Author: PatagoniaLlami

Ah, mac and cheese. I could sing thy praises for a lifetime. You are the chunky knit sweater of foods. Your warm, chewy, cheesy goodness is like a warm hug for my insides, and you have always been there to provide sustenance after many a drunken night.

I shall never tire of you, but alas, your excessive caloric composition prevents me from enjoying you as often as I desire.

Oh, but what’s this now? A vegan butternut squash mac and cheese? With an autumnally appropriate, dairy-free sauce? And a crispy, golden panko-sage topping?

I’m so into it.

Ok, weird ode to mac and cheese over. But seriously, this vegan butternut squash mac and cheese is currently floating around in my top three favorite macaroni preparations of all time (trailing by a hair behind caprese mac and lobster mac).

Once you try it I suspect it will sit high up on your list, too. A rich, silky sauce comprised of pureed butternut squash and a base of cashew béchamel- which is my new favorite thing to use in like, everything– is tossed with pasta, topped with an aromatic panko and crispy sage breadcrumb topping (swoon) and baked to perfection.

Why this recipe for Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese works:

• It is every bit as creamy and comforting as classic Mac and Cheese, minus the dairy (or the scary orange food coloring).
• The vegan bechamel sauce gets its signature “cheesy” flavor from a combination of soaked and pureed cashews, nutritional yeast and vegan butter.
• The crispy fried sage and panko breadcrumb topping adds a crunchy element and takes this fall-inspired Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese to the next level.

Cook’s Tips for making Vegan Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese:

• You will have to soak the cashews for at least 1 hour if using hot water. If using cold water, you can soak them for up to 24 hours in your fridge.
•  When cooking the pasta, pick a roomy pot that gives it enough space to move. Make sure to add plenty of water to the pot and don’t skimp on the salt. The pasta water should taste as salty as seawater.
• To achieve perfectly cooked “al dente” pasta, start checking the pasta’s doneness about 2 minutes before the time listed on the pasta packaging is up.

Variations on this Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese recipe:

•  If you are allergic to cashews or cannot find them where you live, I recommend you use macadamia nuts.
• Add a tablespoon of sun-dried tomato pesto to the bechamel sauce for a Mediterranean touch.
• To add more sweetness to your butternut squash bechamel sauce, you can roast the butternut squash instead of steaming it.

Side note: how adorable are these snowflake-shaped pasta I found? I couldn’t resist- they’re a seasonal find at Trader Joe’s, if you want to go pick some up!

FAQ:

Can I make this vegan bechamel sauce with a different nut?

 Absolutely.  You can make nut bechamel using almonds or macadamias. Macadamia Nuts would be the best substitution as they add a lot of richness and texture to the sauce. If you opt for almonds,  skin-on almonds are fine, but blanched almonds are best if you prefer a white sauce. Note that each nut will impart a slightly different flavor to your butternut squash bechamel sauce.

What is nutritional yeast and why is it an essential ingredient for vegan cheese sauces?

Nutritional yeast, not to be confused with brewer’s yeast, is a popular food additive made from a single-celled organism,  which is grown on molasses and then harvested, washed, and dried.  No worries, no animals are harmed in this process because yeasts are members of the fungi family (think mushrooms), not animals.

Nutritional yeast is packed with nutrition; it’s low in fat, gluten-free and contains no added sugars or preservatives. But most people don’t even know about those benefits and simply use it for its flavor.

Nutritional yeast has a strong flavor that can be best described as nutty, cheesy, or creamy, which makes it very popular as an ingredient in cheese substitutes, like this vegan bechamel sauce. It is the ingredient that turns our cashew sauce into a cashew cheese sauce, which is really crucial to a Mac and Cheese recipe, so I highly recommend you do not skip it.

Nutrition information and Health Score does not include ingredients listed as to serve or any serving
suggestions.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an
estimate.

# The % daily values indicates how much of a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet,
based on general nutritional advice for a diet of 2100 calories a day.

* Health Scores are calculated on a 1-10 scale based on nutrient density and USDA (global standard)
recommendations for a healthy diet. A higher Health Score indicates a healthier recipe. The value is
based on the impact of macronutrients and micronutrients in the recipe.

You know how every biscuit recipe you see asks for you to chill your dough for at least 30 minutes in the fridge before baking so you get a fluffy product? Well, there is a simple secret to NOT having to chill them and waste waiting 30 minutes – use very cold vegan margarine and very cold almond milk; and I mean almost ice cold, cold. You will be impressed how they come out equally moist and fluffy.

Serves: Makes about a dozen

Ingredients

October 15, 2015 by Lisa Le 39 Comments

About Lisa Le

Lisa is the thirty-something, nerdy, procrastinating, feminist blogger and photographer behind The Viet Vegan. She loves spicy foods, noodles, and food in bowls.

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November 7, 2017 by Lauren Hartmann 3 Comments

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Hello and Happy Holidays my friends!!!

Who’s excited to bite into this Gluten Free Vegan Gingerbread Cake? 🙂

This time of the year I really do stop and reflect on the whole year and I do appreciate everything that has been amazing. It’s been an incredible year for me.. my health improving, my second daughter (I really didn’t think my health would allow me to have another child so I really struggled with this for years – and now I have this gift of a second beautiful daughter – and a gift to my oldest – a sister!)… my wonderful family who is always there for me and so many amazing things – including my sweet and supportive readers of Pure Ella. (Thank YOU for being here)

Christmastime is here and although it can be a busy and frantic time, it can be really rewarding when you sit down with your family and friends and enjoy the magic of the season.

Magic? Yes, because it’s the togetherness and gratefulness that we have each other that really makes the Holidays special.

Although we celebrate in many different ways, I think every culture and every religion really looks forward to being together and sharing great food, stories and laughter and just enjoying the presence of one another – not the presents as one would think – it’s about the presence alone, is it not? 😉

Did you know I almost cancelled Christmas this year?

Oh dear, I know that it sounds crazy, but I really started to lament to my mom and sisters that this year is just too busy for me to host a big Christmas Eve dinner (we traditionally have a big Holiday supper on the 24th for about 10 adults and 3 kids). I randomly declared to each of them how it’s not going to happen, with the baby and work that I’m sorry but it’s too much work to clean and cook and make it all happen!

Somehow, I completely missed this topic with my husband (amongst all the busyness of our busy schedules we sometimes don’t have a real adult conversation about important things.) Everydays just flow and ‘busy’ is an excuse for everything. (There. I just used the word ‘busy’ 3 times. 4!)

Finally, I mention it to my husband “oh, I didn’t tell you? We won’t have Christmas at our house this year! But it’s ok… we’re SO busy with the baby and stuff…” (I thought the man would be relieved and applaud this brilliant idea!)

Boy was I wrong!

I kind of got yelled at for being a Grinch! Oops! It was a stern lecture I guess I deserved!

I forgot how amazing my husband is and why I married him. He never showed it, he didn’t care much about the decorations or the pictures or making things perfect – but he always cared about just being together. And now that we have kids, we do it all for them – so they see how important family and togetherness is. Half of his family lives in Europe, including his mom and only sibling, his sister, so I think I’m realizing how important the people who are in his life here are. I appreciate my family also, but I lost my sense of what the Holidays really were about. I wanted the easiest ticket out. I secretly wanted to curl up and sleep through this crazy time of the year and wake up (hopefully revived) in 2015!

But now I see. I get it. I get the magic! I get how important every single person in our family is and how it’s important to just be together and eat a meal as a family – – because some don’t have families, some don’t have their loved ones around to have a meal with, some may not even have food on the table…

Gosh, we’re so lucky in so many ways! We have each other and can have a beautiful Christmas that celebrates our growing family and all the good things in our life. My heart is filled with so much gratitude… we are so lucky… we have it all!

I hope you see how lucky you are too 😉

So this Holiday, when you sit down around a dinner table with your family and friends, just take a moment to look around all the special faces around the table and take a moment to actually tell them how lucky you are they are here with you and in your life. When that moment happens, you will experience the true magic of Christmas and Holidays…

Oh and let’s not forget the cake!

Togetherness is way more enjoyable when you have a great cake to eat! A cake that everyone CAN eat! That’s why this cake is perfect – it has the perfect Gingerbread flavour that seasonally fits so well for the Holidays but it’s also gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, cholesterol-free, nut-free and has no toxic artificial ingredients, preservatives or colours and it’s even refined sugar free!!! Heck yeah!!! 😉 Did I mention how amazing it is??? I don’t even have the words for it… I will have to let you decide on your own first bite… 😉 You’re welcome!

If you’re new to baking, do not get intimidated. This cake is actually really easy to make! I also perfected the recipe so it has no gums or egg-replacers which are unnecessary and very expensive to buy and you’d never need the whole bag of that stuff anyway. I also went for an easier route and used Bob’s Red Mill All-purpose Gluten-free flour mix – GF flour mixes are so easy to find now, I think it’s great to keep things simple sometimes and the less ingredients the better, am i right? There’s really just 7 ingredients that make this cake possible + the spices. If this spice mix is too long for you – go with just cinnamon – or purchase an all-natural preservative-free gingerbread spice mix.

Important : Gum-free gluten-free cakes are really the best when baked the same day.


I recommend  baking it the day you will serve this. You can prep the batter fully and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. And make the frosting completely ahead of time (frosting stays fresh for up to 1 week – just remix before frosting the cake. But the actual baking I would do in the morning – leaving to cool for at least 2 hours at room temperature and then layering the cake with cold frosting close to being served.

This cake is just delicious with a sprinkling of powdered sugar for a quick little something. If you want a simple Gingerbread cake without the frosting.


However, if you do make this as a 4 layer cake with this delicious gluten-free and vegan frosting – it will be Amazing!! A huge crowd pleaser for sure. My mom is a skilled traditional baker but even she was shocked that this cake had no eggs or dairy and it came out so amazing!!! 😉 I think you will be pleased too 😉

Gluten free Vegan Gingerbread Cake

gluten-free, vegan, nut-free ~ allergy friendly cake recipe

Ingredients for the cake :

(Makes 2 8″d cake layers. To make a 4 layer cake like in the photos, double the recipe)

1 3/4 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour


3/4 cup coconut palm sugar or organic raw cane sugar


1 tablespoon baking powder


1/4 teaspoon fine textured sea salt


4 teaspoons of Gingerbread Spice Mix

• 1 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

.


3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce


1/2 cup hot water


1/2 cup grape seed oil

Directions :

Preheat oven to 375F and line the bottom of two* baking dishes with parchment paper**.


Sift*** the flour and mix together well all the dry ingredients in one large bowl.


Combine together all the wet ingredients in another bowl and pour into the dry ingredients.


Let stand for 10-15 minutes, or until you prepare the pans.

Distribute the mixture evenly amongst two pans and place in the oven on the middle rack.


Bake 15-18 minutes or until toothpick-dry


Remove from the oven and let rest for 2-3 minutes then lift out of the pan and place on a wire rack to cool.

*If you have one pan, just pour our 1/2 of the mixture and bake twice. You don’t need to clean the pan for the second baking but you do need to place a fresh sheet of parchment paper.

** Use parchment paper, ideally unbleached, not wax paper.


***Sifting the flour is so important. It adds airiness to the flour resulting in twice the fluffiness of the cake. So worth it to take the time and sift.

Delicious VEGAN CAKE FROSTING

INGREDIENTS for the Frosting:

• 1 cup coconut or almond milk (I used So Delicious Original Coconut Milk) (divided to 3/4 & 1/4 cups)
• 4 tablespoons of raw cane sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons potato starch (or organic corn or tapioca starch)
• 1 1/2 cups vegan margarine (1 full container of Earth Balance coconut spread for more white frosting or buttery spread for more buttery cream colour)
• 1/2 cup vegan shortening
• 20-30 drops of liquid Stevia OR 1 cup (+ more as per your liking) organic powdered sugar

.

DIRECTIONS:

(It’s great to make the frosting 1 or two days ahead of time)

In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup of cold milk with potato starch until completely mixed with no clumps remaining and set aside.

In a small pot, heat the remaining 3/4 cups of milk over low-medium heat, add the sugar and mix to allow the sugar to melt completely. Do not allow to boil. Slowly, pour in the 1/4 cup milk with potato starch diluted mixture mixing the pot as you pour.

Continue mixing for about a minute until the milk mixture thickens. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely – it will resemble a ‘pudding’ texture. Store in the refrigerator until ready to make the frosting. In a mixer, whip the shortening and vegan butter on high until light and fluffy for about 5 minutes. Slowly add in the ‘pudding’ mix one spoon at a time while it’s mixing. Add the Stevia to taste OR add in the powdered sugar slowly and continue mixing for a few more minutes, turning it off to scrape the sides a few times in between.

Check for sweetness level and add more sweetener if needed. (I personally like the frosting on a low-sweet level as together with the cake it makes for a great combination of flavours and sweetness.) If the frosting has warmed up by now too much and it’s too soft, store it in the refrigerator for minimum 1/2 hour.

Just before layering the cake, mix again in the mixer for a few minutes to make the frosting nice and smooth.

To prepare the 4 layer cake: make sure you double the cake recipe and have 4 cakes and frosting completely cooled.


Scoop 1/6 of the cold frosting on top and spread evenly. Top with another cake, spread more frosting,  and continue with the rest. Spread extra frosting on the sides, and make it rough or smooth as you like.

Garnish with fresh rosemary sprigs and pomegranate arils to make a wreath. The rosemary is purely decorative and it’s not recommended to be eaten with this cake. If that’s not desired, top it off only with pomegranate arils. Feel free to get creative with the decorating as you wish. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah and Kwanza too!

This cake is called the Gingerbread Christmas Wreath Cake but it’s not just for those who celebrate Christmas. It’s a cake for everyone!

It’s big on flavour and presentation but it’s also completely allergen friendly, and all-natural and if a cake may be it…. Healthy!! Man, I wish all desserts could be like it, so you don’t feel guilty treating yourself 😉 I remember the days when desserts made me feel awful and I always mumbled… “I wish I didn’t eat this!” well…. this cake is To Live For! It’s naughty and nice because it tastes sinful but it’s good-for-you!! 😉

I hope you all have a safe and happy Holiday Season with your loved ones. Remember to fully embrace togetherness and enjoy one another. Sure, it may be chaotic, it may be ‘busy’ but just remember to focus on the good and look for the magic… 😉

Published Jan 3, 2019 · Modified Mar 2, 2023 · by Alexis Joseph, MS, RD · 17 Comments

About Alexis Joseph, MS, RD

Oh HEY there! I’m Alexis Joseph, food writer, blogger, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), new mama, and co-founder of local restaurant group, Alchemy. I use my passion for cooking and wellness as fuel to help others ignite a more freeing and happy relationship with food. Learn more about Alexis!

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January 31, 2019 By Melissa Huggins / 56 Comments

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