After having watched how difficult it was for the master chef contestants to come up with a perfect chocolate souffle in a pressure test to watching endless number of videos on youtube, i finally gathered the courage to prepare a perfect chocolate souffle at home.
Why courage you must be wondering? Well as far as I have seen and heard, souffles have a bad reputation of been unpredictable. But I am more than happy to say that I am no longer intimidated by it. I succeeded in making really good if not perfect souffle at my very first attempt. There are many recipes online for chocolate souffle. I cannot particularly point out which one I followed. I did my research and put my own twist here and there. So if I can make good enough yummy chocolate souffles so can you. Go ahead give these a try you won't be disappointed.
Here's what i did:
The recipe is for 2 servings - double or tripe the recipe for more servings
You will need:
Two 8 inch ramekins (buttered and coated with sugar)
1 tbsp of unsalted butter
1/3 cup of half & half (You can also use whole milk)
1 egg yolk
2 egg whites
1 tbsp of cornstarch (you can use all purpose flour as well)
About 1/4 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips or chocolate (a little less than 1/4th cup)
1/2 tsp of vanilla essence
2 tbsp of granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
Confectioners sugar for dusting
1) Preheat the oven at 390 F (200 degree C). Coat the ramekins generously with butter and then sugar.
2) In a sauce pan melt 1 tbsp of butter on a low to medium heat. Add cornstarch and stir for 2 - 3 mins. Now add the half & half or milk. Keep stirring until the half & half or milk thickens and forms a yogurt like texture.
4) In another clean and dry bowl add the egg whites and a pinch of salt. Beat the egg whites until they are foamy. Now gradually add the 2 tbsp of sugar little at a time and beat till the egg whites form stiff peaks. If you tilt the bowl and the egg whites wont fall off, thats when you know its done :P.
5) Spoon a little of the egg whites and add it to the chocolate mixture. Now carefully fold the egg whites in to the chocolate mixture.
6) Now add this chocolate mixture into the remaining egg whites and mix them gently in a folding motion. Be very careful to not over mix the batter or mix it vigorously. We want to retain the air pockets created in the egg whites as much as possible. Else the souffle wont rise. The egg whites helps the souffle to rise and be light and fluffy.
7) Spoon the batter into the prepared ramekins and fill it completely but not upto the brim. Clean the edges of the ramekins before putting them inside the oven. Place the ramekins on baking sheet and bake at 390F for 15- 18mins. My souffles very ready at 15 mins. Oven temperatures may vary so time it accordingly.
8) Remove from the oven and sprinkle confectioners sugar or cocoa powder on top and serve immediately before they start deflating :P.
Decadent, light, fluffy and gooey chocolate souffle ready in less than 45 mins.
