A good way to impress your guests is with a creamy but fat free pumpkin mousse.
The Mousse is on the Loose
Mousse means foam in French and that is exactly what the texture of a dessert mousse is like. The usual procedure to make a mousse is to create a sweet whipped cream and then gently fold the flavoring component into the whipped cream. For example, a chocolate mouse is melted chocolate folded into whipped cream.
Holiday Diet Concerns
I know that the holidays are a good time to enjoy rich, creamy desserts, but they are also the time that a lot of people start to watch their fat consumption. So I have modified my usually very high-in-fat Halloween dessert to a fat free pumpkin mousse.
I substituted a fat free whipped dessert topping for the original whipped cream. This brought the recipe down to 1 gram of fat per 6 ounce serving. Acceptable, I thought, but not actually fat free. My original recipe called for 4 egg yolks. The egg yolks were in the recipe to provide volume and texture as well as favor. I knew that removing the eggs from the recipe would affect the texture, but I figured as long as I dissolved the sugar before adding it to the mousse it wouldn't be grainy. So instead of using egg yolks to dissolve the sugar and then adding that mixture to the cream, I dissolved the sugar in an egg substitute. I added the dissolved sugar to the pumpkin puree. Having removed both the cream and the egg yolks, I had redesigned my pumpkin mousse into a fat free pumpkin mousse.
Fat Free Pumpkin Mousse
The Ingredients
- 1/2 ounce gelatin
- 2 ounces orange juice
- The zest of two oranges, finely chopped
- 3 ounces of Grand Marnier
- 3 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 4 1/2 ounces sugar
- 4 ounces cholesterol free egg substitute
- 1 1/2 cups non-fat dessert topping
- 2 1/4 teaspoons of vanilla extract
The Instructions
- In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the orange juice.
- In a large bowl, mix the orange zest, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, salt, pepper, and Grand Marnier and mix well.
- Mix egg substitute and sugar in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved. Add it to the pumpkin mix.
- Add the vanilla extract and dissolved gelatin. Mix until smooth.
- Gently fold the non-fat dessert topping into the pumpkin mixture.
- Spoon into 6 ounce ramekins or martini glasses.
- Cover each with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for several hours. Overnight would be best.
- Top each with a dollop of non-fat dessert topping.
- Topping them with a little candied orange zest would be a nice touch.
