My favorite side dishes are roasted veggies of any kind. I’m fond of squash, but I never season it with anything other than extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. For the last two years, I’ve worked hard to change my diet from fast food and carb heavy to a clean eating, organic, more vegetarian and vegan diet.
It’s baking season, so I thought I would add a little holiday cheer to my diet by topping roasted acorn squash with a vegan salted caramel sauce. I gave up dairy along with carbs and meat, so I replaced the cream in the caramel sauce with a mixture of silken tofu and soy milk.
Florida Crystals® is the only certified organic raw cane sugar grown and harvested in the United States. I was excited to be part of its Pure Joy Blogger Recipe Challenge. The challenge includes three recipe categories: Organic Baking, Vegan, and Thanksgiving. I chose to make a vegan salted caramel sauce. I used the Florida Crystals® Organic Brown Raw Cane sugar as the main ingredient in my recipe. The brown sugar is a free flowing sugar with bold flavors of molasses and caramel — two of my favorite flavors in any sweet dish.
Notes on Making Roasted Acorn Squash with Vegan Salted Caramel Sauce
Acorn squash has a tough, almost hard outer skin. Cut the squash in two, then scoop out the seeds with a large spoon. Trim any remaining stringy parts of the squash. Flip over each half, and slice squash in one inch pieces.
Do not peel acorn squash before cooking. Roast the squash with the outer skin on. Once the squash is done, the outer skin is tender can easily be removed.
When adding the liquid to the brown sugar, the liquid will bubble up and clumps of sugar will form. Keep whisking until the mixture is smooth. The brown sugar mixture usually cooks about 15 minutes before it thickens like caramel. Make sure you stir it often, or it could burn and stick to the pan.
Drizzle the sauce over the sliced acorn squash before baking. The squash generally takes about 40-45 minutes to become tender.
Florida Crystals®
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DISCLAIMER: As part of the blogger challenge, I received the following products: Florida Crystals® Organic Brown Raw Cane Sugar, Florida Crystals® Organic Powdered Raw Cane Sugar, and Florida Crystals® Organic Raw Cane Sugar. Thoughts and opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small percentage of the commission at no cost to you.
Roasted Acorn Squash with Vegan Salted Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 acorn squash
- 1 cup Florida Crystals® Organic Brown Raw Cane Sugar
- 1/4 cup silken tofu
- 1/4 cup soy milk
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Cut the squash in two, then scoop out the seeds with a large spoon. Trim any remaining stringy parts of the squash. Flip over each half, and slice squash in one inch pieces.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the tofu and soy milk. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, add brown sugar. Stir over medium heat until sugar starts to melt. Add tofu-soy mixture. When adding the liquid to the brown sugar, the liquid will bubble up and clumps of sugar will form. Keep whisking until the mixture is smooth. The mixture will turn a toasty brown. The brown sugar mixture usually thickens in about 15 minutes. Stir often to keep the caramel from burning and sticking to the pan.
- Drizzle caramel sauce over squash. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until squash is tender.
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