Pumpkin Mousse

Pumpkin Mousse: entirely no cook and so fluffy and irresistible with white chocolate and gingersnaps.

Have you seen my pumpkin ebook for 25 pumpkin recipe that aren’t pie and 1 that is? I think you would love it.

If you're hosting a Thanksgiving feast and no one offered to bring the pie, I'm so sorry. But! I have you covered. We're going to give everyone their pumpkin fix with this no-cook, pull-together-in-15-minutes pumpkin mousse. And for someone who is on the fence about pumpkin (sorry, it's me), I will attest to the extreme deliciousness of this mousse. It's airy, sweet, fluffy, and so dang very good.

I love to make mousse with a mixture of melted chocolate, egg yolks, and whipped cream. When it sets in the fridge, the chocolate and egg yolks make it firm up. The whipped cream keeps it fluffy. If you're following along: this mousse has raw eggs. Keep this in mind, or buy pasteurized eggs.

This Fall riff on my Chocolate Mousse for two with crushed peanut butter pretzels (I know), is something you're going to want to be making 'til Christmas and beyond.

The steps of this mousse happen in rapid succession. Please, get your mis en place ready and make this an enjoyable process. The first few times I made this mousse, I wasn't photographing it and it came together quickly. When I stopped to photograph it, it was a little haphazard. You can see the resulting slight graininess in the result. It didn't affect the flavor (thank heavens!), but it really proved to me how important it is to start the process and commit start-to-finish.

Also: start with room temperature eggs. The time I was photographing this, I used cold eggs into warm chocolate. Don't be like me.

Pre-measure and pre-chill your bowl and beaters for whipping the cream quickly. Separate your 3 room temperature eggs ahead of time and have the yolks ready in a small bowl. Have your pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and white chocolate chips handy.

First, melt 10 ounces of white chocolate. Melting chocolate is finicky, especially white chocolate. I lower the power to 50% on my microwave, and heat it in 20-second pulses. I stir between each pulse, and take it out of the microwave way before it's melted all the way. The heat of the bowl is what's really going to melt the chocolate.

This is after 2 pulses. It's starting to melt, but there are a lot of whole chips still in there. Don't put it back in the microwave! Let it be. After 1 minute, stir. And you'll have this:

See? The residual heat of the bowl melted it perfectly without scorching it. If it scorches and seizes, there's not really much you can do. I'm sorry. Practice melting chocolate ahead of time, or buy an extra bag of chocolate just in case.

Stir in your 3 egg yolks.

Add 1 cup of canned pumpkin puree.

Add pumpkin pie spice. I made my own real quick out of: ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, and a pinch of allspice. So, in total, I would add 1 ¼ teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice if you have it.

Add a bump of vanilla. I never measure this stuff. I'd say ½ teaspoon is good.

Now, pull the bowl of cream and beaters out of the fridge, and beat it quickly. When it has soft peaks, add 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar and beat until almost stiff peaks form. Don't take it too far, but also don't leave it too soft.

It's time to fold together the pumpkin mixture and the whipped cream. This is my favorite part.

Start with half of the whipped cream to the pumpkin mixture. The proper way to fold is to scrape the skinny side of the spatula down the middle of the bowl, and then sweep the outsides of the bowl. Do this until you can't see any white streaks of cream. So, folding takes longer that stirring. It just does. Go slow. Your mousse will be ethereal and fluffy because of it. Don't lose your patience and stir it all together.

So pretty!

We're ready to spoon the pumpkin mousse into glass cups. I love using a mixture of sizes. This way, your Thanksgiving guests can decide if they want a big glass or a tiny glass.

I took a tiny glass.

And then ate the other half of my husband's big glass.

Cuz I'm a lady.

Cover them all with plastic wrap, and chill at least 4 hours. We're going to whip more cream and dollop it on top with gingersnaps for garnish before serving.

Can you handle this pumpkin mousse?