The recipe below was adapted from one in Vegetarian Times and it has become my very favorite Thanksgiving dessert - I like it even better than pumpkin pie. This recipe is entitled "Pumpkin Flan" - by the way, flan is called "creme caramel" in the UK, France, and probably other countries as well (Australia? New Zealand?). But in the US, we usually use the Spanish word 'flan' for this creamy and delicious dessert.

Please don't be scared away from it by the caramel: I wasn't brave enough to make caramel until last year and I feel really silly now that I didn't try it years ago. It's not at all difficult. You need to be careful not to taste the melted sugar and not to spill it on yourself - it's sticky and can give a very nasty burn. Other than that, it's really easy. This recipe would be good even without the caramel, but it's much more festive with it. For best texture and flavor, make the flan the day before you will be serving it.

Pumpkin Flan

For the caramel:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup water

For the custard:

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup (unseasoned) pumpkin puree (I use canned pumpkin - it's fine. Just be sure you get 100% pumpkin and not that nasty "pumpkin pie filling".)
• 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1.5 cups evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed milk) or half-and-half, or whole milk, even 2% or skim milk. I use skim-evaporated milk for this recipe.