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Chocolate Souffle

Courtesy my Bong genes, I am born with a super sweet tooth. Cakes and Cookies had started becoming the staple fare at home, so the heart yearned for something else for that dose of sweetness. After our recent cruise experience, and all the lovely Souffles we had there, I gave into the desire of making some at home. Why not?! I still have that French love tucked away somewhere in my heart.Well, I had heard that making souffles was not an easy deal, but then hubby chipped in to say, that I should give it a shot. So Souffle it was, for a family dinner last weekend.  And everything tastes better with a dash of chocolate, so I thought I could not go wrong, could I?!

For the uninitiated, Souffles are light cakes which are made with Egg whites, sugar and separated egg yolks, as the main ingredients.They rise up, for the air bubbles created while whisking the egg whites into soft peaks, with some lemon juice or cream of tartar. Souffles can also be made savory. 

For a person, who is used to baking cakes, all the recipes which I came across, had no flour in them. That was something, which I was not too sure of. I had heard of flour less cakes, but making one on my own, seemed a tad risky to me. So I warned Hubby in advance that maybe we would have to entertain without dessert, if the souffle did not make it to the table. The other concern, were the Chocolate Chips. Hubby had picked up Dark Chocolate Chips, when we had to pick up semi-sweet ones. So I thought of adding some Chocolate syrup, to the molten chocolate, to make it a bit sweet and it worked wonders with the souffle. 


My warm CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE won me rave reviews at the family get together. Now I can safely say that, all the myth about the difficulty of baking souffles is surely an exaggeration. In fact, it is quite simple, and can be baked just before serving, with all the prep work having been done before hand. 


CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE: 

Ingredients: 
Dark Chocolate Chips: 3/4 cup
Hershey's Chocolate Syrup: 1/4 cup
Sugar: 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp plus more for coating the ramekins
Lemon Juice: 1 tsp
Egg Whites: 8(at room temperature)
Egg Yolks: 3(at room temperature)
Butter: 4 tbsp plus more for coating the ramekins(at room temperature)
Warm water: 2 tbsp
Vanilla Extract: 1 tbsp

Procedure: 
Pre-heat the oven to 400F. 

Grease 4 ramekins ( I used 4 inch ones) with soft butter, and then coat them with sugar. Place the greased ramekins in the refrigerator. 

Temper the Chocolate chips in the microwave on High for 2 mins, stirring in between. This should melt the chocolate, if not microwave it for another 30 seconds, and stir again. Add in the butter  and the chocolate syrup and stir well. Lastly add in the vanilla extract. The molten mixture should have a silky shine to it. Let it cool. 

Meanwhile beat the egg yolks with the warm water slowly, so as to not cook the eggs. Add in the warm water gradually and keep stirring, till it has forms threads when poured with a spoon. Mix in the egg yolk mixture with the cooled chocolate mixture. 

Beat the egg whites with either lemon juice or cream of tartar, on a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer with a whisk attachment, or even with a hand whisk. After beating for around 5 minutes, add in 1/2 cup sugar and continue to beat first on Low, and then on High, once the sugar in incorporated. The egg whites should form soft peaks, and not stiff peaks, like in a  meringue. 

Mix around 1/4 the egg white mixture, into the chocolate mixture to thin it out a bit. Fold in the rest of the egg whites very gently in the mixture, following one direction, to incorporate air into the batter. This should be done very gently with a light hand, so as to not deflate the egg whites which have been whisked for so long. Pour the prepared souffle dough around 3/4 ths or 1/2 way into the prepared ramekins. The mixture at this stage can be refrigerated for up to a day. 

Bake  for around 20 minutes just before serving the souffles, as they tend to deflate after being out of the oven for long.Hence they are always served warm. 

Bake at 400F for around 18-22 minutes. Check around the 18 minute mark.If the center of the souffle is moist, with crumbs adhering to it, when pricked with a toothpick, that means the souffle is done. 

The sugar which coats the ramekins, forms a nice crusty exterior on the souffle, while the center remains warm and moist. 

I was a bit wary of how they would turn out, hence I filled in my ramekins only 1/2 with the mixture, but feel free to fill up to 3/4th of them. 

Serve the souffles in the ramekins itself, by placing the ramekins on individual plates, as they are quite hot when removed from the oven. 

Bon Appetit. 





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