Knowledge Base > Fran Costigan - The Great Thanksgiving Dessert Debate

The Great Thanksgiving Dessert Debate

Fran Costigan - The Great Thanksgiving Dessert Debate

This event was on Tuesday, November 19, 2024 at 1:00 pm Pacific, 4:00 pm Eastern

Are Thanksgiving desserts best when they stick to tradition, or is it time to shake things up with some trendy twists?

Join Chef Fran Costigan, Rouxbe Director of Vegan Pastry fo… Read More.

Recorded

Question:

My family loves sweet potato casserole. I would love to have a plant-based marshmallow topping. What is a good substitute? I've heard of aqua faba but not sure what/how to make it.

— Adam O'Connor

Answer:

Adam, who doesn't love sweet potato casserole? First of all, I don't know where you are in the world, but there is, there are vegan marshmallows available that are delicious and you should be able to find them where you are. Uh, the brand is dandy. D-A-N-D-I-E-S. They come small, they come really large now too, so you could certainly do that. Aquafaba is like, I love to make aquafaba, it's just fun. So, and this is one of the assignments in the course is to whip aquafaba and make a baked Alaska. If you're using aquafaba, if there's anybody here who doesn't know what it is, it's essentially chickpea liquid. It's the liquid that chickpeas were cooked in. If you're using a can of chickpeas, you drain it. Every can's a little different. We reduce it by about a third to a half a cup, chill it and then whip it as you would egg whites with a little bit of cream of tartar the acid and then start adding sugar. And unlike whipping egg whites, you don't really have to worry about over whipping aquafaba. Every time I say that, I get a little nervous because, you know, never say never, but it takes a, it takes a while to whip and it's really fabulous, really fabulous.
Fran Costigan

Fran Costigan

Director of Vegan Pastry

FranCostigan.com