Simply delicious! A souffle is a baked egg-based dish that originated in the early eighteenth-century in France. It is made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites, combined with various ingredients. Can be served as a savoury dish or sweetened dessert.
Ingredients
Extra butter to grease the dishes and caster sugar to dust the interiors
360ml raspberry puree
25g corn starch
120g caster sugar
300ml egg whites, free of any yolk
Pinch cream of tartar
100g caster sugar
Icing sugar to dust
Whipped cream at your discretion
METHOD
Preheat oven to 175°C for 14 minutes
In a small saucepan place two-thirds of the raspberry puree along with the 120gm quantity of castor sugar, set over a medium heat
Mix the remaining raspberry puree and corn starch to make a slurry with a wooden spoon, add to the heating puree and beat till thickened. Continue to cook for a further 8-10 minutes over low heat. After this, place into a sieve, and pass removing the seed content, set aside to cool.
Either by hand or electric mixer, beat the whites to semi-firm peaks. I find the electric mixer very helpful, but whatever you choose to use, make sure the equipment is super clean and free from any fat content.
Place a kitchen mixer onto a medium speed, add in egg whites along with the cream of tartar, and continue to mix till well incorporated and fluffy (approximately 1 minute) increase the speed and slowly start to add the 100gm sugar quantity, a little at a time.
The egg whites should almost triple in volume and hold semi firm peaks.
Start incorporating the egg white into the raspberry fruit base; this will need to be done in thirds. The first quantity you can be quite liberal with, mixing well, the second addition of whites needs to be a little gentler, and the last third if gentler.
Fill each prepared mould to the top, leveling with a spatula, tapping gently to remove any air bubbles. Using your thumb, run around the outside of the top of each soufflé to create a clear track for soufflé to rise evenly
At this point, you can set aside in the refrigerator till ready to bake and serve, no longer than 6 hours in advance though,
When ready place into preheated oven and cook till risen by at least a third of the depth of your soufflé mould, approximately 8-10 minutes
When cooked remove from oven, dust with icing sugar and serve
Makes: 8 x 240 ml soufflé moulds