Pumpkin Soufflé

You couldn't imagine a lighter, more delicious fall dessert -- I'm quite proud of these. And I'm excited to keep experimenting with soufflés -- they're so beautiful, and now that I've gotten over the initial intimidation (all that egg-separating! all that whisking!), they're definitely going to become one of my go-to dishes!

A few pieces of advice: First, obviously, do NOT open the oven while the soufflés are baking. Use your oven light, or just trust the clock. If you open the oven, they won't rise, and you'll have airy little underbaked cakes. Not that that's a bad thing! But if you want soufflés, once you open the oven, they're done.

Second, some recipes call for baking soufflés in a water bath. I don't use them, because I don't think it's necessary and also because it's kind of dangerous to use all that hot water when I have dogs that love to get really close to the oven. So feel free to omit that step with my explicit approval. Finally, you could make one big soufflé with this dish too. Just cook it in a larger soufflé dish for an additional two minutes.

Also, I have to say, the portion size for these are small. You could easily double the recipe, use eight-ounce ramekins (instead of four ounce) and have a more satisfying portion. The cooking time can stay the same.

Pumpkin Soufflé

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cups milk
Pinch of nutmeg
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup solid-pack canned pumpkin
4 egg whites
Extra sugar and butter for ramekins

PREPARATION:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Butter 6 4-ounce ramekins, and coat them with sugar.
3. Whisk together egg yolks, pumpkin and 1/4 cup sugar. Whisk in flour until thickened evenly.
4. In a saucepan, bring milk and nutmeg to scalding over medium heat (just until little bubbles form at the edges of the pan), remove from heat.
5. Pour milk into the yolk mixture and whisk until blended.
6. In a metal bowl, whisk egg whites until very foamy. Add 1/4 cup of sugar in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Beat until egg whites form soft peaks.
7. Pour half of the egg whites into the yolk mixture and stir. Pour the new yolk mixture into the remaining egg whites, and fold until blended.
8. Pour batter into ramekins, bake immediately for 12 minutes.

Serves 6.