Pumpkin souffle bake

(Archived from Nuts & Sprinkles)

The season of fall is beautiful here. The pretty image of different shades of red, orange and brown leaves on trees and roads makes you ALMOST forget the chill in the air. Yes, winter is almost here and my bones are already creaking!

The time is perfect to try some pumpkin recipes. Great timing also with Halloween that just went by. This is a recipe I saw on a Paula Deen show on Food Network. I read a comment about her somewhere - it said that Paula can never cook a dish without a couple of sticks of butter. It is so true! Every dish of hers has to have either mounds or smaller dollops of butter. That's why I try to minimize the number of dishes I try from her collection. But, when I saw this dish on her show, I had to try it, come what may! So, enjoy and forget counting your calorie intake for just a day...or two *wink*. Bon Appétit!

Ingredients:

For the pie -

• ¾ cup flour 
• 3/4 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (I made my own spice mix with ground cinnamon, nutmeg and all-spice) 
• 1/3 cup sugar 
• ¼ teaspoon salt 
• 3 tablespoon Butter 
• 4 eggs, separate the yolks from the whites (add only the yolks first and beat the egg whites separately and fold in gently at the end) 
• ¾ cup buttermilk 
• 1 ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 cup pumpkin puree 

For the garnish -

• 1/2 cup pecan halves 
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter 
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Start with preparing the garnish. Melt the butter on a medium flame. Add the brown sugar. When the brown sugar starts to melt, add the pecan halves and cook for 1-2 minutes. Turn off flame and set aside.

Mix the flour, pumpkin pie spice, sugar and salt in a bowl and keep aside.



In another bowl, melt the butter. Add the egg yolks, buttermilk, vanilla extract and whisk till combined well. Slowly add the flour mixture. Mix in the pumpkin puree.

Beat the egg whites separately until it becomes fluffy with soft peaks and gently fold into the pumpkin batter.

Grease and flour your baking dish. Pour the mixture into the baking dish and top with the pecan garnish. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes. Let it cool for a couple of minutes before digging in.

Dust powdered sugar on top and you can also serve it with maple syrup.