Chocolate Souffles

Sometimes I have these (what I perceive to be) very tricky items from the high-brow foodie world that I would like to try and make one day. To accomplish them successfully would not only be a check off my lifetime bucket list, but give me a boost of confidence to maybe try the others. Things like creme brulee, beef wellington, pavlova, lobster thermidor, and chocolate soufflé!.  

Chocolate souffle... the dessert of your dreams.

I can proudly say I have now officially checked one of these culinary giants off my list... and YOU can too. Don't freak out, stay with me here. True there is some fluffing of eggs and folding in ingredients, but this is almost a foolproof recipe, and if I can do it, YOU can do it.  Not only was it out of this world delicious, it was a lot easier than I ever thought or imagined!

You will have to thank Tricia Yearwood for this recipe. I happened to catch she and her sister making these with super simple ingredients (for the most part just butter, eggs, vanilla, and chocolate), oh hey, wait, I have those - and it looked so divine I just had to try it! Special note: This recipe contains no flour so I believe it is gluten free as well.

If you listen closely, it is whispering "maaaake meeee".

Here' the play by play:

You will need six 6oz ramekins, baking sheet, and preheat oven to 400º

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons of softened butter (plus extra to butter ramekins)
1/2 cup sugar + 2 Tablespoons (plus extra to sugar the ramekins)
8 oz of bittersweet chocolate chopped (I used bittersweet chocolate chips 60%) 
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3 large egg yolks (room temp)
6 egg whites (room temp)
Raspberry sauce (Tricia's or I made my own simple sauce below)
(Raspberries, water, sugar, cornstarch)
Powdered sugar for dusting.

First use some extra softened butter to coat each of the ramekins and then coat with sugar. 

Sugar on the sides will help the souffle "climb" up the walls and poof out of the top

The helpful hint here was to pour a bit of sugar in the first ramekin, then spin it around to coat, then dump the remaining sugar into the next ramekin and repeat.  Worked like a charm.

Six ramekins fit nicely on the half-sheet pan

After that you'll want to melt the chocolate. Use a double boiler (or make a quick one, - boil water in a pot on the stove (low boil) with a metal bowl placed over the top, but not touching the water below).

Place the 8oz of bittersweet chocolate and the 4 Tablespoons of butter in a heat safe bowl and place over the double boiler. 

Chocolate and butter. I think Paula Dean is smiling down from somewhere right now...

 Mix slowly and make sure the chocolate is melting gently. 

Activate smell-o-vision here

 Once smooth remove from heat and set aside.

Beautiful melty chocolate.

Combine three room temperature egg yokes and 2 Tablespoons of warm water into a stand mixer and beat until frothy. Gradually add 2 tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until thick ribbons form, about 5 minutes. 

It will turn this lovely pale yellow color

  Very lightly fold the yolk mixture into the cooling chocolate mixture.

Fun.

Fold gently until combined and set aside.

Folding just means to lightly lift the heavy chocolate from the bottom up into the fluffy egg yoke mixture.

Meanwhile, in a clean mixing bowl, add the 6 room temp egg whites plus the 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar.

How this tiny bit of liquid turns into a bowl full of fluff is one of those cooking miracles

Beat on medium speed until frothy and add in slowly the 1/2 cup of sugar until combined and not gritty. Beat for about 3 more minutes, until stiff peaks form.

If you can master this by the way, you can also make Pavlova (coming soon to a blog near you)

Working quickly, start by folding 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the set-aside chocolate mixture until the color lightens.

More folding.  It's fun to watch the colors combine

then fold in the remaining egg white mixture gently until blended.

You are now ready to make souffles!

Spoon souffle mixture into the six waiting butter/sugared ramekins on a cookie sheet.

Wow that fit perfectly.

 Smooth out the tops.

We accidentally missed the smoothing out part, it was our first time

Put into the preheated 400º oven immediately and bake for 18 minutes or until the souffles have risen over the tops of the ramekins. While these were cooking we started to be very quiet, whispering and paying reverence to that old wives tale not to make too much noise around a souffle or it will fall.

Eighteen minutes later... this was what we were pulling out of the oven.

I can't tell you how amazing it felt to peek in the oven (through the glass mind you, never with the door open) and see these little babies poofing up over the top of the ramekins like an honest-to-goodness souffle. I was beyond excited.

Make a quick raspberry sauce.  I did not use Tricia's but you are welcome to. I just threw a couple handfuls of frozen raspberries into the pot with a little water, a 1/4- cup of sugar (depends on sweetness of raspberries you have) and a little corn starch. Bring to a boil and then let simmer until the sauce has thickened.  I did this while the souffles were baking - but I was so excited about the souffle's rising I didn't take any pictures of my sauce making.

Remove souffles from the oven. 

Seriously, I can't believe that actually worked!

This is the hardest part. You must, and I mean you MUST eat these immediately.  If you don't eat them right away, they will get disgusted with you and collapse under protest. They must be hot, fluffy, and go in your mouth right away for you to be able to enjoy the highest possible souffle goodness.

Hello my love!

Dust with powdered sugar.

It's snowing!

We placed the still hot ramekins on cute little dessert plates.

(Use oven mitts to move hot souffles. Thanks Pioneer Woman for the adorable plates)

Top with warm raspberry sauce and prepare to to be delighted!

Hot, steamy, fluffy, raspberry-sauced chocolate souffle

Like this might be the best thing that ever happened to eggs and chocolate!

Oo-la-la

Can't get enough!  The outside was a little crisp and lightly crunchy, but once you dove inside there was a warm gooey fluffy cake thing that was almost indescribable. 

Holy yum batman!

Look at that sweet/tart raspberry sauce spilling over the sides.

After a few bites you are looking into a chocolate, raspberry abyss.

This is my new. favorite. thing.

Here's my youngest enjoying her first souffle at the tender age of 12.  I had to wait 40 years to try my first, she's a lucky little lady.

This is the BEST she kept saying

So... this was SO worth it. Don't be intimidated. You can do this.  You want to do this. You owe it to yourself to do this.  Report back to me when you do.  God Bless you Tricia Yearwood, I have now checked chocolate souffles off my bucket list.