Slow Cooker Surprise Butterscotch Sauce

This is the quickest and healthiest way to make a butterscotch sauce for vanilla ice cream.  It is free of sugar and dairy and has a surprise ingredient!  This sauce is based on a recipe from a cookbook called The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes by Judith Finlayson.  I make my own vanilla coconut milk ice cream that is free of dairy as well.  Serve this sauce over the ice cream and top it with some honey roasted nuts or a crumbled Uber Larabar.

4 cups of butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/4 cup melted butter

pinch sea salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup maple syrup

1.  Combine squash, butter, salt, vanilla and maple syrup in the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours, until the squash is very tender.

2.  Puree the mixture with a hand blender or in a high speed blender.  Spoon over vanilla ice cream and top with honey roasted nuts.