My Chocolate Souffle - Happy New Year 2014

Happy New Year 2014 my dearest readers, family and friends! I started this New Year with three letters of the alphabet 'Y.E.S'! This is the year of Good Tidings and all Good News! So for my first recipe of the New Year, I wanted to begin with something deliciously sweet. Incidentally, it also something borrowed (from almost a decade ago) and a rather simple make!

This recipe creation is one dear to my heart. It reminds me of a time when I was with my family in Dubai. This was before I was married and was staying with my parents, sisters and bros-in-law. My eldest sis was expecting her first bundle of joy then! My BILs used to tease me with the name souffle (sou-fly, etc.) I had made 'my chocolate souffle' all too often and it was a welcome dessert at home. It was a sure way to get to the heart! No wonder I remember this recipe so fondly!

You can make this recipe with cocoa or chocolate. You can also choose to use the dark-bitter sweet chocolate, white chocolate or regular cooking chocolate. I had used cocoa, a decade ago when I used to make the souffle often. This time I tried it with cooking chocolate.

Now for the souffle, it would be advisable to use ramekins however if you do not have ramekins available, your options could range between sturdy coffee cups, thick glass bowls, steel bowls or even orange peels as pointed out by my foodie group friend Sanaa.




You need:

•  500 gms butter
• 150 ml milk
• 75 gms castor sugar/ brown sugar
• 25 gms cocoa or 20 gms of cooking chocolate
• 100 gms plain flour and 1/2 tsp of baking powder or 100 gms of all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs, separate whites and yolks
• Extra castor sugar for dusting
• Water for cooking souffle and melting chocolate

The Make:
Makes 4 standard size ramekins | Preparation Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 20-25 mins

1. Butter the ramekins well on all corner even the rim of the ramekin and set aside.
2. Melt the butter, milk, sugar and cocoa or chocolate in a double boiler.
3. Once melted, turn off the flame and set aside.
4. Add in the sifted flour in the melted chocolate mix and whisk well.
5. Whisk in the egg yolks and mix well.
6. Next add in the egg whites and whisk well till evenly blended.

For the cooking process, you can do this two ways, either on stove top or in the oven. In both cases, you need to place the ramekins in a deep-bottomed pot with a lid. Make sure to add enough water to half cover the ramekins from the base.

7. Pour the whisked batter into the prepared ramekins up to 3/4th of each of the ramekins allowing room for the souffle to expand. Tap the bottom of each ramekin on the table top to ensure the batter evenly sits in the ramekin.
8. Place the ramekins carefully in the prepared pot on a medium-low flame. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. If you are using the oven, preheat the oven to 180°C and place the deep-bottomed pot in the center of the oven and allow to cook for 15-20 minutes.
9. The souffle would have risen over the ramekin at least to 2/3rd its original height and would jiggle a bit but the top would be set.

I personally love having this souffle nice and warm but you can also have it at room temperature or cool as has been enjoyed by a few friends of mine.

Hope you enjoy making and serving this souffle. I call this 'My Chocolate Souffle' as I have experimented with this souffle so much over the years that it has become 'mine' :)

With Valentine's Day in less than a month you might want to try experimenting with/practicing this recipe creation ;) This recipe as I mentioned earlier is a sure way to one's heart :) You can  serve the souffle by making a small dip in the center of the souffle and adding a spoon of ice cream or cream or grated white chocolate or even melted cheese.

Bon Appetit!