Raspberry souffle

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away I got myself some cute little single serving ramekins, with the plan to try my skills at making souffle. Ok, I may have been a bit melodramatic as it's probably not more than 2 years ago, and certainly not more than 30 miles away. But it does feel like a lifetime ago, my life was so different back then. I was living in my tiny shoebox of a studio, in another job and convinced I would be single for the rest of my life. Now I'm sitting in my craft room writing this blog, with the Culinary Consultant downstairs in the living room playing an unbelievably loud computer game. I'm not necessarily saying I was less happy then, but life certainly was different, and I do like the turn my life has taken over the last few years. I guess thinking back, even such a short time back, does remind me of the fact that things can change very fast. And there is no guarantee I will be sitting here in my craft room in a year's time. But I'm quite convinced I will still have my little pink ramekins! So the more things change, the more they stay the same. 

Why the trip down memory lane? Well basically I was contemplating the history of my cute little pink ramekins, and the fact that they have only served as souffle receptacles once (you can see the result here). They have held plenty of other things including oven oatmeal, single serve crumble, microwave single serve chocolate cookie, cobbler and salted caramel. Today they returned to doing what they were born to do - make souffle! And what a souffle it was.

I have pinned this recipe for raspberry souffle ages ago, probably in the days when I first got the ramekins. It's from a blog called Eating out Loud. I have used it almost unaltered, only cut down the recipe by half, which made a perfect amount for two generous souffles. I also added some vanilla bean paste to the raspberry coulis, which wasn't included in the original recipe. Although souffle sounds very intimidating, this is actually a rather easy one to make. It takes a bit of prep, like buttering the ramekins and preparing the raspberry coulis. But actually, it's not very hard. If you know how to beat egg whites, you know how to make souffle. 

Raspberry souffle (serves 2): 
1/2 cup raspberries
2 tbsp plus one tsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 egg whites
icing sugar for sprinkling on top 

The howto:
Start by preparing two single serving ramekins by buttering them thoroughly. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (400 degrees F). Puree the raspberries using a handheld blender. Sieve the puree to remove the seeds. Add a tsp sugar and the vanilla bean paste to the raspberry coulis and set aside. Using an electric whisk, whip the egg whites until starting to turn fluffy. Then add the two tablespoons sugar, a little at a time while whisking. You will end up with a very fluffy and shiny white foam, and just as it would for making meringues, it should stay in the bowl when you turn it upside down. The slowly mix the raspberry coulis and egg whites by gently folding to keep all the air in the egg whites. Fill ramekins to the top and smooth the top with a spatula. Place in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, until the souffle has risen well above the top of the ramekin. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve immediately.

This is what they looked like straight out of the oven. There is definitely some rise going on!

The verdict:
Making souffle feels very 80's. But actually it's a great dessert, I genuinely enjoyed this tasty dessert. It's light and fluffy but the raspberries bring such a punch of flavour to it. It's simply irresistible. And it's pretty failsafe as long as you don't whip all the air out of your eggwhites when adding the raspberry coulis, just remember to fold gently and it's ok even if it's a bit streaky. Better slightly under- than overfolded. And eating souffle is so great, it's almost like eating a cloud, but a really tasty one.