Sweet Potato Souffle With Coconut-Hazelnut Streusel
Give your Thanksgiving table an extra delicious touch with your new favorite sweet potato dish. Topped with a crumbly, perfectly spiced coconut-hazelnut streusel, this delicate and airy sweet potato souffle features fresh, bright orange zest and real maple syrup for the ultimate holiday side dish.
5poundssweet potatoespeeled and cut into 1 ½-inch cubes
Salted water
4egg whites
½cupbuttersoftened and sliced
1cupheavy creamwarmed in microwave for one minute right before using
3egg yolks
Zest from 1 orange
½cupmaple syrupsee note
1teaspoonsalt
1teaspoonvanilla
½teaspoonground cinnamon
Coconut-Hazelnut Streusel Topping
1cuppacked dark brown sugar
½cupall-purpose flour
½cupshredded coconut
½cupchopped hazelnuts
1teaspoonground cinnamon
1teaspoonground ginger
Pinchof cayenne pepper
¼cupbuttersoftened
Instructions
Sweet Potato Souffle
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot, place sweet potato cubes in cold salted water and bring to a boil. Continue boiling until softened, about 20 minutes. The potatoes are ready when a fork can easily pierce them.
As the potatoes boil, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside. At this point, you can also prepare your streusel topping. In a bowl, mix together dark brown sugar, flour, shredded coconut, hazelnuts, cinnamon, ginger and cayenne until well combined. Using a fork, pastry blender or clean fingers, work in the butter until it's well distributed and crumbly throughout. Set aside.
When the potatoes finish cooking, drain well and lightly pat dry with paper towels to remove excess moisture and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Whip the potatoes using a stand or hand mixer until they smooth out and are just about the consistency of mashed potatoes. As needed, stop to scrape the side of the bowl to ensure everything is whipped.
Coconut-Hazelnut Streusel Topping
Stir in the softened butter. Once the potatoes are coated with butter, stir in the warm heavy cream, and then the yolks, orange zest, maple syrup, salt, vanilla and cinnamon. Gently fold in the whipped egg whites until combined. The mixture will be thinner than mashed potatoes at this point.
Pour into a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the streusel all over the top of the souffle. It should completely cover the sweet potatoes. Bake for 30 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes
Make sure you use real maple syrup, not the kind you see for pancakes.
To make ahead, boil the sweet potatoes and combine with all the ingredients except the whipped egg whites. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for two to three days. Make sure you pull the sweet potatoes out of the refrigerator an hour or two early to allow the mixture to come down to room temperature. When you're ready to bake, whip the egg whites fresh until stiff peaks form, fold them into the sweet potato mixture, pour into the baking dish, cover with streusel topping and bake for 30 minutes. The casserole may need additional time because it won't be as warm going into the oven as it is when you make it right off the stove. If that's the case, tent with tinfoil to prevent the topping from overbrowning and bake for another 10 minutes or so.
You can make the streusel topping ahead of time as well and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Butter is safe at room temperature, and we don't want it getting all hard in the refrigerator.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.