No more draining your chickpea water down the sink. No more last minute trips to the grocery store to get heavy whipping cream. Indulge in a healthy dessert and put your vegan family members and guests at ease with aquafaba whipped cream. If you've got a can of chickpeas and a high-speed mixer, you're in business.
This fall, I've been exploring vegan desserts more than ever, and this whipped cream technique -- which has been around for a while -- struck me as not only innovative, but also economical and a big time saver. If you use a lot of whipped cream for holiday desserts, you're probably used to running to the store at the last minute to get fresh heavy cream. But this whipped cream is amazing, totally plant-based, and great for people with dairy allergies. Win, win, win! This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for Mother Nature's ingenuity.
Aquafaba whipped cream, pictured atop this amazing plant-based pumpkin pie that I adapted from this terrific recipe. I subbed in almonds for the pecans, cane sugar for the coconut sugar, cornstarch for the arrowroot, and aquafaba whipped cream instead of coconut whipped cream. The result was a delicious, protein-packed fall dessert that you can truly eat for breakfast. The full pie was demolished by my small household in one day!
How to make Aquafaba whipped cream:
Pour the liquid (but not the chickpeas) from a 15-ounce can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans into a mixing bowl or stand-mixer and whip with an electric beater for about 7 - 8 minutes, or until soft peaks form. Fold in 2 - 4 TBS of powdered sugar, to taste, and continue mixing for 2 - 3 more minutes, until you have firm peaks.
Optional -- You can add in 2 TSP vanilla extract at the beginning for flavor. You can also add a pinch (1/8 TSP) of cream of tartar before you begin whipping, for a meringue-flavor and a slightly more stable whipped finish.
Serve shortly after whipping. You can refrigerate what you don't use. Note that the whipped aquafaba will start to deflate and eventually settle back into its original liquid state, but you can totally whip it up again the next day if you need to!
