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.

Lemony Lemon Brownies

Damn you, Pinterest. It's visual crack and I can't stop pinning!

A friend Victoria recently pinned a recipe for "lemony lemon brownies". Sounds gross, right? Brownies to me mean chocolate. Don't worry - this recipe doesn't have any of that. It's more a lemon-bar, really. Anyway, wanted to bake something to take to a Christmas party and this recipe seemed super simple.

The original recipe site:
https://sites.google.com/site/beckycharms/cakies/lemony-lemon-brownies

The "Brownie" Batter

3/4 cup all-purpose flour {King Arthur All-Purpose Flour}

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt {Sea Salt}

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons lemon zest

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Tart Lemon Glaze

1 rounded cup powdered sugar

4 tablespoon lemon juice

8 teaspoons lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease/Spray an 8-by-8-inch baking dish with butter/cooking spray and set aside. 

Zest and juice two small/large lemons; set aside. {whatever you have}

In the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the flour, sugar, salt, and softened butter until combined. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice until combined. Pour into the flour mixture and beat at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. 

Pour into baking dish and bake for 23-25 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before glazing.  Do not overbake, or the bars will be dry. {even with the yummy glaze}

When brownies are cooled completely, make the glaze...sift the powdered sugar, add lemon zest and juice, and whisk together all three ingredients. Spread 1/2 the glaze over the brownies with a rubber spatula.  Let glaze set.  Spread the remaining glaze over the bars, and let it set.  This glaze does not harden like most.  Cut into bars, and serve!

The batter looked heavenly after it was mixed. I wanted to eat the whole thing! It was like whipped lemon heaven. 

 

Unfortunately, I don't own an 8x8 pan only a 9x9 one and so the end result was kind of thin (like a little over a cm) after about 18 minutes. It didn't rise any. I used a silicone pan which made the brownie/cake tear when I popped it out. The glaze was runny (as warned) and it took about 4 small lemons to make it. Anyway, I used one of those flat scrapers to try and cut it and what a mess that made. I switched to a pizza cutter about 3/4's of the way through and that was a much, much better idea. Less mess and clean cuts!

 

The husband said it was tasty and my 2 year old toddler kept sneaking in and taking them. The people are the party I went to gave it high reviews too. Next time I make it I'd like to try and find a smaller pan.

Update March 3 2013: I've made this three more times since my initial attempt. I use my rectangular baking pan lined with parchment paper which works a lot better. Especially since I can just lift the parchment and put into a re-purposed chocolate tin. 

The first time I took it to a friend's house for her Oscars party. Either the lemons weren't super fresh or I stored them too close to a squash or used a knife that I had used to make squash soup (which I admit I made that same day), because it had a squashy flavour about it. Or maybe it was just the piece I got? One guy couldn't stop eating them. Nica said the last time I made them the bars were better.

The second time I took them into work. Weren't bad. I think I still overcooked them by a minute but the frosting really saved it. I selectively gave them out so had leftovers and when Nica and I ate them a couple of drunken nights later they were AWESOME. 

The third time I made them I used Trader Joe's gluten-free flour which you can use "cup for cup like real flour".  I wasn't sure of the chemistry of everything because after beating the butter, flour, sugar and salt, the resulting mixture was more solid and moist than crumbly like it normally is with regular flour. And after adding the lemon and egg mixture, it wasn't fluffy and creamy and almost looked like the lemon curdled. But I baked it anyway and it turned out super moist!  Thumbs up gluten-free recipe and in fact, I think I almost prefer it to the regular flour kind. Upping the rating from 8.5 to 9 out of 10. 

So my tips with this recipe?
* Use parchment paper to line whatever you're baking it in. Easier to transfer out of the pan (and clean), easier to hold in the glaze and easier to cut.
* Use a pizza cutter to slice the cake.
*  I used a KitchenAid mixer to mix everything. Probably not a tip since I'm sure you can still use an electric beater. I just wanted to point out that you don't HAVE to.
* You will need 6 (small) lemons to make this recipe and you will have leftover juice that you can freeze in ice cube trays for future use. 2 lemons for the cake, 4 lemons for the icing.

This is a super simple recipe that I can even get my toddler involved in. The hardest part is getting the rind off the lemons.

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.