Raspberry souffles

Voila! Raspberry souffles!

So from my previous post, I had embarked on a quest to make homemade mayonnaise. That uses a lot of egg yolks which leaves you with lots of leftover egg whites! What to make? A quick search on google resulted in: Angel food cake (Nica and Ariana don't eat cake fast enough in this house); pavlovas (already made those a few weeks ago and still have some left);  creme brulee (too much dairy); and souffles. Hmmm. Souffles. Further googling (yes, I just verbed that) demonstrated that I could make a sweet souffle. How delicious did that sound?! The first recipe I came across was a strawberry souffle but strawberries aren't in season and I didn't have any in my house. But further searching landed me on this recipe: Raspberry souffles. I had frozen raspberries to use up in the freezer.

I chose this recipe to follow since it had the world "fool" in it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/foolproofhotraspberr_12919

Can't go wrong if fools can make it, right?

Ingredients

• 250g/9oz raspberries
• 4 eggs, whites only
• 100g/4oz caster sugar
• juice of half a lemon
• ½ tsp cornflour, lightly dissolved in a few spoonfuls of water

Preparation method

1. First, evenly butter and sugar ovenproof moulds for the souffles and place in the freezer.
   
2. For the coulis, add half of the sugar to the raspberries. Place in a hot pan and cook quickly for 2-3 minutes with a good squeeze of lemon juice.
   
3. Liquidise with a hand blender and pass through a sieve to remove the seeds.
   
4. Place 2 tsp of coulis in the bottom of the souffli dishes and thicken the remaining coulis with the moistened cornflour.
   
5. For the meringue, ensure the whisk and bowl are free from grease by scalding in boiling water.
   
6. Place the egg whites in the bowl and start to whisk.
   

7. 

   mixing the raspberry base and beaten egg whites together

   Gradually add sugar until a smooth soft peak is obtained.
   
8. Add a good squeeze of lemon juice at the end.
   
9. For the souffli, take a third of the meringue and whisk into the thickened coulis.
   
10. Lightly fold in the remaining two thirds. Do this gently so the air is not knocked out of the mix.
    
11. Divide the mix between the dishes.
    
12. Smooth the surface of the souffli and trim edges with your thumb.
    
13. When ready to bake, space out on a tray and bake in a medium to hot oven (180C/350F/Gas 4) for approximately 10-15 minutes depending on the size and dish.
    
14. Dust with icing sugar, place a raspberry on top and serve immediately.
    

The end result were beautiful souffles. I didn't scrape the tops flat so yes, they were lopsided but when they come out all billowy and tall, you want to do a tiny dance (but lightly of course since we're dealing with souffles here).


These were really really sweet so next time I think I'll cut down on the sugar. I froze four of them since it says you can freeze them and then just toss them in the oven to make them lift again so we'll see how that goes tomorrow. The great thing about this is that they're gluten and dairy free so a fantastic dessert for those that have those dietary considerations. I still have more egg whites left so the next adventure will be savoury souffles. Mmmm.

Ultimate meringue recipe

Going to a dinner tomorrow night and I can't have dairy and my sister can't have gluten. What to make?!!!

Meringue to the rescue! Trying this recipe out tonight: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2445/ultimate-meringue

I googled the conversion between grams and cups for the caster sugar and icing sugar but I might just break out my digital scale to make sure.

• 4 large organic egg whites , at room temperature
• 115g caster sugar (a little over 1/2 cup)
• 115g icing sugar (a little over 1 cup)

1. Preheat the oven to fan 100C/ conventional 110C/gas 1⁄4. Line 2 baking sheets with Bake-O-Glide non-stick liner or parchment paper (meringue can stick on greaseproof paper and foil).
2. Tip the 4 large egg whites into a large clean mixing bowl (not plastic). Beat them on medium speed with an electric hand whisk until the mixture resembles a fluffy cloud and stands up in stiff peaks when the blades are lifted.
3. Now turn the speed up and start to add 115g caster sugar, a dessertspoonful at a time. Continue beating for 3-4 seconds between each addition. It's important to add the sugar slowly at this stage as it helps prevent the meringue from weeping later. However, don't over-beat. When ready, the mixture should be thick and glossy.
4. Sift one third of the 115g icing sugar over the mixture, then gently fold it in with a big metal spoon or rubber spatula. Continue to sift and fold in the remaining icing sugar a third at a time. Again, don't over-mix. The mixture should now look smooth and billowy, almost like a snow drift.
5. Scoop up a heaped dessertspoonful of the mixture. Using another dessertspoon, ease it on to the baking sheet to make an oval shape (pic 3). Or just drop them in rough rounds, if you prefer. Bake for 1 1⁄2-1 3⁄4 hours in a fan oven, 1 1⁄4 hours in a conventional or gas oven, until the meringues sound crisp when tapped underneath and are a pale coffee colour. Leave to cool on the trays or a cooling rack. (The meringues will now keep in an airtight tin for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for a month.) Serve two meringues sandwiched together with a generous dollop of softly whipped double cream.