Here are the directions for Little Chocolate Soufflés:
Lightly coat 6 (4 ounce) soufflé dishes (or custard cups) with nonstick spray
and dust with 2 Tbsp. sugar.
Place on a rimmed baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350.
Melt 2/3 c. dark chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave.
Separate egg yolks from whites. Put 4 egg whites in large mixing bowl and
2 egg yolks in a small bowl (putting the other 2 yolks back in the refrigerator).
Beat whites with mixer on high until soft peaks form.
Gradually beat in 3 Tbsp. sugar until peaks are stiff.
Stir melted chocolate into yolks until well blended.
Stir about 1/2 c. beaten egg whites into chocolate and yolk mixture.
Fold chocolate mixture into remaining whites until just blended.
Bake 16-18 minutes until risen and tops start to look a little dry.
Serve immediately.
Note: If you don't have ramekins, you can use other small custard cups that are safe in the oven. I have used my Pampered Chef 1-Cup Prep Bowls before.
In case you are interested... I looked up the definition of soufflé. Wikipedia says:
"A soufflé (French: [su.fle]) is a lightly baked cake made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savory main dish or sweetened
as a dessert. The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler
which means "to blow up" or more loosely "puff up"
—an apt description of
what happens to this combination of custard and egg whites."
Also, I researched why some find soufflé so intimidating. Here is what wiseGeek had to say:
"A soufflé can be either sweet or savory, and often have an undeserved reputation for their difficulty of preparation... Achieving the “rise” of the finished soufflé is easily attained with proper attention to details. Modern cooking apparati and ovens with good temperature regulation have significantly decreased the difficulty of preparing a soufflé. A good stand or hand mixer can easily beat the egg whites to perfection. The trick in keeping them well puffed is not to mix the other ingredients in too quickly, deflating the trapped air in the whipped eggs."
Please be advised, but not scared, that there are few simple tricks to a lovely, light soufflé. In my experience, here is what you need to know:
1) Bring your eggs to room temperature before starting. Also, allow your chocolate to cool briefly after melted. This will ensure your egg yolks don't cook when you add the melted chocolate.
2) Separate your eggs properly. Egg whites won't beat well with any yolk in them.
3) Use a good mixer. I love my stand mixer, but you can use a hand-held too.
4) You need to know how to beat egg whites properly. If you don't wait for soft peaks and then slowly add the sugar or if you ever over beat the eggs, you will not get a good final result.
5) Trust yourself because, once you've done it successfully one time, it's really quite easy and you'll know what soft peaks and stiff peaks should look like. Believe me, when done wrong, you will definitely know what it looks like when egg whites are beaten too long.
6) Fold ingredients into the whipped egg whites immediately and be gentle. They mean it when they say "just until combined." 7) Remember that it will puff well, when done right, but soufflé will also deflate once cut into.
To make it on plan with Trim Healthy Mama {S dessert}, I simply nix dusting the ramekins with sugar and substitute Truvia for the sugar. { I know they say no baking blend, but I do use it: 1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. Truvia baking blend = 3 Tbsp. sugar} Also, you will want to decrease the baking time just slightly. If you decrease it by a couple minutes, it will come out more like a cupcake consistency. If you decrease it a little more, it will bake up more like a chocolate lava cake. I used this variation of the recipe in the picture of the baked soufflés above.
I hope after reading this that you no longer find the thought of baking soufflés intimidating. Have fun and enjoy!
- Have you struggled with beating egg whites in the past?
- Have you ever tried a recipe that you previously found too intimidating?
- Do you have another soufflé recipe that you can share?
No comments:
Post a Comment