Month-of-Mini-Desserts: Mini-Chocolate Soufflés

Well, here we are again at the end of the shortest month and me left with more recipes to share than the number of days left. Why does that happen each year? Sigh! Oh, well, moving on…

Initially, I thought I would have a very hard time choosing among the list of remaining desserts to end this month. But, you know DH! Chocolate is always popular, and since today is also National Chocolate Soufflé Day, the list got really short, really fast! I am sharing today my modification of a chocolate soufflé recipe that is really easy to pull off.

Lots of people are scared of soufflés, and there is reason for some concern. They are delicate. You need to have all ingredients (especially the eggs) at room temp. Opening the oven during baking can deflate them. Not serving immediately deflates them. But, they aren’t really hard to do. You just need to pay attention. Soufflés are not slap together foods. The first soufflé I ever made was a cheese one, and I have very fond memories of how well it turned out!

Everything you will read about soufflés says NOT to open the oven during baking but to remove them when the center is still jiggly. See the conundrum? I address this in my note below.

I adapted this recipe for Chocolate Soufflé from Food52.

My adaptation consisted of halving the recipe so I could make four 6-ounce mini-soufflés rather than six of them in 8-ounce ramekins. The directions are as in the original recipe, mostly. If changed, I used brackets.

Mini-Chocolate Soufflés (makes four 6-ounce ramekins)   
¼ cup sugar, plus more to coat the soufflé dishes
3 ounces semisweet chocolate [I used 70% cacao]
Pinch salt
1 ½ teaspoons instant coffee or espresso granules [I used coffee; next time espresso]
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks, beaten
3 large egg whites

Powdered sugar, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving. [I used cream cheese with fruit.]

Preheat oven to 375°.     

Generously butter four 6-ounce ramekins and sprinkle them with sugar. Place the dishes on a baking sheet.

Chop the chocolate and melt it in a double boiler set over a pan of simmering water.

When the chocolate is melted, whisk in the salt, instant coffee, vanilla, and egg yolks.

While the chocolate is melting, whip the egg whites with a mixer until foamy.

With the mixer running, slowly stream in the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten. Then gently fold in the rest of the egg whites — a few streaks are okay.

Neatly divide the mixture between the prepared ramekins. If any soufflé batter gets on the rims of the dishes, wipe it away with your finger.

Bake until the tops are set and beginning to brown, but the centers jiggle slightly, 15 to 20 minutes. Resist the urge to open the oven!

Dust your soufflés with powdered sugar and serve immediately with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

NOTE: I served my soufflés with a blueberry-strawberry cream cheese topping. You can put anything you want on them. Of course, two of the soufflés were flattened since we didn’t eat them immediately, but they tasted okay the next day. I baked mine for 20 minutes by gauging how much they had risen. They were great, but perhaps could have come out a minute of two earlier.

DH’s RATING: 5 Tongues Up
He was surprised how light this was given how rich it looked and tasted. His collapsed before he ate it despite me telling him to hie himself to the kitchen right away. He loved the fruit and chocolate combo but asked me to put ice cream on it next time.

If you have enjoyed this month of mini-desserts, I hope you will continue to hang out here, even when I am not posting recipes but am sharing what I am learning about mysteries.