I was feeling creative when I whipped up (literally, whipped) this Sweet Potato Apple Soufflé - as a side dish for Sunday supper. Yup, that's right. I called it a soufflé. It's an eggless, vegan, no-sugar-added, naturally-sweetened, naturally savory, sticky-sweet, caramelized - sweet potato soufflé. Get my recipe..
This dish is all about the divine oven-baked sweet potato. In all it's golden, caramelized, vitamin-A-infused glory. The sticky-sweet inspiration:
The Results..
Sweet Potato Soufflé. Now I realize that by calling it a soufflé I am conjuring up highly respected images and taste expectations. I mean after all, a perfect souffle is the cornerstone of good-chefery. A soufflé is what separates the chefs from the cooks - or so they say on the episodes of Top Chef I have watched. But after my first bite of this recipe - I had to call it a soufflé! It was fluffy, creamy, whipped and silky - all I could think of was a puffy light soufflé. I'm sure you could even do a few tweaks with a vegan egg replacer and get it to rise a bit better than mine did - but for now, these tasty lil golden soufflé cups suit me just fine.
This recipe takes a traditional sweet potato mash and gives it the royal recipe treatment - it's like the Cinderella of dishes. shabby to chic in a matter of minutes. Yay, now I can serve my favorite food at even the swankiest of dinner parties!
And you'll notice that this savory-sweet recipe is added-sugar-free! Nothing added to sweeten it - just the natural goodness of sweet potatoes leading the flavor profile.
Sweet Potato Apple Soufflé
vegan, makes 12 mini cups
2 cups oven-roasted sweet potato
½ cup apple juice
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon corn starch
1 small green apple, sliced thin
⅛ teaspoon salt
8 ounces tofu cream cheese
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon olive oil
¾ cup breadcrumbs - or crushed day old bread
Instructions:
1. First bake your sweet potato in the oven. Rinse and slice venting holes across the skin. A large sweet potato will take around 40-60 minutes in a 425 degree oven. When the potato is ready it will be tender to cut down the center and the skin should fall right off the orange sticky flesh.
2. In a large mixing bowl, grab your hand beater and whip together the sweet potato, cream cheese, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, apple cider vinegar and olive oil. You'll notice the mixture is quite thick.
3. Dissolve your corn starch into your cold apple juice and then add the liquid to the mixing bowl and continue to whip the mixture - and let it loosen. Lastly, fold in your apple slices.
4. Prep your baking cups or soufflé bowls by rubbing them with oil and adding a thin layer of bread crumbs on the bottom. Then spoon the sweet potato mixture into the dishes.
mini:
larger serving size:
5. Baking times will vary based on the dish size you use and how soft you'd like your soufflé. Small muffin cups (mini appetizer size) will take about 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees. Larger soufflé dishes will take 30-60 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Good rule of thumb: when the top layer rises a tad and becomes browned, bubbly and stiff to touch - your cups are done.
6. Remove from oven. Allow to cool for a few minutes. You can also allow the soufflé to chill and firm up in the fridge. These bites are delicious hot or cold! Store in the fridge.
Happy sweet potato eating!
Cook time: 30 minutes
More sweet potato-licious photos!!
Geoff says
Today the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term ‘yam’ to be accompanied by the term ‘sweet potato.’ Unless you specifically search for yams, which are usually found in an international market, you are probably eating sweet potatoes!
Nitpickers are butts.
Natalie Rivera says
Does anyone check these comments anymore? I just found your blog. Your sweet potato is a Yam. I went to the store and all the sweet potatos are yellowish, the Yams look exactly like that and when i came home i looked a mine and yours and its not even the same.
Angie Lisle says
Some sweet potatoes are light, while others are more orange in color - the orange ones are often called yams (the FDA allows them to be labeled yams, but the label must also include sweet potato because the orange ones are actually sweet potatoes).
True yams have brown or black skin and, depending on variety, off-white, purple, or red flesh. Yams would work in this recipe though - they are sweeter than a sweet potato, but some people might like that. The downfall is that real yams can be harder to track down than sweet potatoes.