Maple Pumpkin Mini Souffles

Light, fluffy, soft little pumpkin souffles with a hint of maple and amaretto and all the lovely pumpkin spices. These mini souffles taste like pumpkin pie in perfect individual portions for an easy make-ahead dessert.

PLUS a low carb option that has only 41 calories per serving! (not including whipped cream)

If you’re an old hat at separating eggs and making souffles you can skip this next part and go straight to the recipe. But, for the rest of us …

No fail souffles? Seriously? I have to tell you: the secret to success with souffles is knowing what might go wrong. If you know what might go wrong, you can take the easy steps to prevent the mishaps and sad, flat souffles.

I want to tell you another little secret, though: even if your souffles don’t turn out as fluffy and light as you hoped, they will still be delicious and taste like pumpkin pie. You don’t HAVE to tell your guests you meant them as souffles (unless you want to).

What’s the secret to no-fail souffles?

First, you need a little cream of tartar. It’s a white, powdery substance you’ll find in the spice aisle that keeps fluffy egg whites from collapsing. Don’t ask the grocery dude stocking the shelves to help you find it … I might have done that once and ended up in the SOUP aisle! He had NO clue what I was talking about. If you’ve not bought cream of tartar before, head to the baking aisle and look at the spices. Most grocery stores carry it.

The cream of tartar is important, but that’s not the only thing. The other thing you must be VERY careful with is separating the eggs. The egg whites must be ALL egg white … absolutely not even one tiny speck of egg yolk. To keep from accidentally getting yolk into the mix (especially on the third or fourth egg!), you might want to strain the white of each egg individually into a separate small bowl, then once you’ve succeeded in keeping the yolk out, dump that white into the mixing bowl and start on the next one. Once you’ve practiced separating your eggs a billion times you might not need this extra “prevention” step, but still, even an accomplished chef has a broken yolk mess them up once in a while!

How to separate the egg whites from the yolks?

1. Tap the side of the egg on the flat counter top with a swift, confident, but not harsh tap, just enough to crack the shell.
2. Use your fingers to pry the egg open, making two sides of the shell.
3. Hold it over the bowl, cupping the egg yolk in one side of the shell and letting the white drain out.
4. Gently dump the yolk into the other shell, then, keeping the yolk whole and once again letting the white drain out.
5. Continue back and forth until all the white is strained off or the yolk shows ANY signs of breakage.
6. Once the yolk is leaking, dump it in the yolk bowl, even if you have some white left in there with it.

For a visual, here’s a video from Real Simple on how to separate eggs.

Once you’ve separated your eggs, then whip up the egg whites until they’re stiff. (I recommend using a hand mixer, not a stand mixer because I’ve found my stand mixer doesn’t reach the bottom of the bowl and I end up with a lot of un-beaten egg whites). “Stiff” means when you stop and lift up the beaters from the bowl, the “peaks” that rise up stay there and they don’t topple over. Once those peaks are really nice and stiff, sprinkle on the cream of tartar and beat up a little more.

In the other bowl you stir up the yolks with the other good things. Easy peasy. Just stir them together until everything is nicely mixed.

Then the only other slightly tricky part is to fold the fluffy egg whites into the pumpkin/yolk mixture. In this step, you pour the whites into the bowl containing the pumpkin/yolk mixture, then you want to scoop UNDER the whites with your spatula or spoon and then gently “fold” (or pull) a bit of the yolk mixture on top of the whites. Keep on doing this action, turning the bowl about 1/4 turn after each fold, until the whites are mostly incorporated. The souffle batter should still look fluffy but also pumpkin colored.

And then, to fill the souffle cups: use your spatula or large spoon and scoop up from the bottom of the dish to ensure you’re scooping up any residual yolk mixture from the bottom as you go.

Will these mini souffles fall? Even the most perfect souffles will settle a bit once they’ve cooled, but if you’ve taken all the steps above, your souffles should still be nice and fluffy inside even 2 – 3 days after you made them.

Maple Pumpkin Mini Souffles

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 12 mini souffles 1x

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Ingredients

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• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 Tablespoons real maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 – 2 teaspoons amaretto liqueur (optional)
• 6 Stevia packets or 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a muffin tin with silicon liners or spray small ramekins with cooking spray.
2. Separate the eggs into two small mixing bowls: yolks in one, whites in the other. Make sure the whites are completely free of yolk.
3. To the bowl with the yolks, add the pumpkin, maple syrup, spices, vanilla, amaretto and stevia or brown sugar. Stir until fully mixed.
4. With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Sprinkle the cream of tartar on top, then beat a little longer to incorporate.
5. Gently fold the egg whites into the pumpkin/yolk mixture. Scoop into the prepared muffin liners or ramekins. Bake at 350 F. for about 18 – 20 minutes or until golden brown on top and set in the middle. (The top should spring back when lightly touched.)
6. Let sit for a few minutes to cool slightly, then, if using a muffin tin, use a butter knife to gently lift the souffles from the tin. Serve warm or cold, topped with whipped cream (if desired). If made ahead, store in an airtight container in the fridge until close to serving time.

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Notes

If you use ramekins, depending on the size, you might need to lengthen the cooking time.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

© Copyright 2019, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 mini souffle
• Calories: 41
• Fat: 1.6g

Nutrition facts below are for the stevia option. If using brown sugar, calories and carbs will be higher.