I still had a few passionfruit left over from the discount bulk bag I picked up last week and these passionfruit-banana soufflés looked great, so I obviously had to give them a try!

They were wonderfully easy to put together. And they rose beautifully! (Three of them also deflated dramatically pretty much instantaneously, but they still tasted good. Even if they were no longer as light and fluffy and wonderful as the ones that stayed more inflated.)

Passionfruit-Banana Soufflés

Slightly adapted from Delicious.com.au

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 c. sugar, divided
• 5 passionfruit (~100mL of pulp)
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Grease six ramekins and dust them with sugar.
3. Beat the egg yolks with 1/4 c. of the sugar until light and creamy.
4. Stir in the passionfruit pulp and mashed banana.
5. Combine the egg whites and cream of tartar and beat until foamy.
6. Continue beating while gradually adding the remaining 1/4 c. of sugar.
7. Beat until stiff peaks form.
8. Stir ~1/3 of the meringue into the base to loosen it.
9. Fold in the remaining meringue.
10. Gently pour or scoop the mixture into the prepared ramekins.
11. Run your thumb around the edges of the ramekins to form a small "moat".
12. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 14-15 minutes.
13. Dust with icing sugar (if desired) and serve immediately.

This was excellent! It's obviously not the healthiest or the most vegetable-rich of vegetable side dishes, but it is very tasty.

Corn & Gruyère Soufflé

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1 c. milk
• 150g gruyère, grated
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 ears of corn, kernels cut from the cobs
• 5 large egg whites
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Grease a soufflé dish and dust it with the Parmesan.
3. Melt the butter over medium heat.
4. Add the onion and cook until softened (~5 minutes).
5. Add the salt, pepper, and flour and cook until no longer raw (~3 minutes).
6. Add the milk and cook, stirring, until sauce is smooth and thick.
7. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.
8. Beat the egg yolks until creamy (1-2 minutes) and stir them into the sauce.
9. Mix in the corn.
10. In a clean dry bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar and beat until stiff.
11. Stir ~1/3 of the egg whites into the sauce.
12. Fold in the remaining egg whites just until no streaks remain.
13. Carefully pour or scoop soufflé mixture into the prepared dish.
14. Bake at 160°C (325°F) for 40-50 minutes. (Soufflé should be slightly jiggly, but not liquid in the centre.)
15. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Soufflé

This can be made as either one large soufflé or several small ones. I opted for the small ones today. Mostly because they don't take nearly as long to bake.

I really liked this soufflés. They were deeply chocolate-y and very light (as you would expect). I will say that I found them ever so slightly on the sweet side. I think I'd be tempted to either reduce the sugar or use unsweetened chocolate next time. I've written them up to use a bit less sugar than originally called for, but feel free to use unsweetened chocolate either instead or as well.

Chocolate Soufflé(s)

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 c. sugar, divided¹
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract or 1 Tbsp. Cointreau
• 250g dark chocolate, melted
• whipped cream, to serve

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) for several small soufflés or 190°C (375°F) for one large one.
2. Grease your soufflé dish or ramekins and dust with sugar.
3. Combine the egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt and beat until soft peaks form.
4. Gradually beat in 1/4 c. of the sugar. Set aside.
5. Beat the egg yolks until pale.
6. Add the remaining 1/4 c. of sugar and beat vigorously until very pale and thick and mixture makes "ribbons" when beater is lifted out.
7. Beat in the vanilla or Cointreau.
8. Fold in the melted chocolate.
9. Add ~1/3 of the meringue and stir to combine and loosen the mixture.
10. Add the remaining meringue and gently fold it into the mixture until no longer streaky.
11. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish(es).
12. Run a finger around the top edge to make a small "moat".
13. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 10-12 minutes for small soufflés or 190°C (375°F) for ~30 minutes for a large soufflé. Soufflé should be well-risen and slightly crisp on the outside, but still very soft and slightly wobbly in the middle.
14. Cut a circle of the "crust" off the top and spoon a generous portion of whipped cream over it.
15. Serve immediately!

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¹ The original recipe called for 3/4 c. of sugar total: 1/4 c. in the meringue and 1/2 c. in the base. I found this a bit too sweet for my tastes, so I've scaled back the sugar somewhat here. You could also try swapping out the dark chocolate for unsweetened, either instead of or as well as reducing the sugar. Try it and see which you like better! ^Back

I was in a bit of a hurry and messed this recipe up a bit. I saw that it called for either a spinach-parmesan or a cheddar cheese soufflé, so I just went ahead and made the soufflé as directed. It wasn't until I was halfway through making the soufflé (and had already asked TF to prepare the baking dish) that I noticed that it wanted you to make a bunch of small soufflés rather than one large one. Whoops!

I continued with my large soufflé. I figured it'd work out to about the same thing anyway. Just not as cute and visually appealing.

Unfortunately, again because I was in a hurry, I cut the baking time a little short and my soufflé had a bit of a sturcutral integrity issue when I was unmolding it. It wasn't the end of the world. It needed to go back in the oven again once the sauce and cheese went on anyway. But it did mean that the final dish wasn't very aesthetic.

I've included a photo of my fail soufflé here, just to have something. But please be aware that this isn't what it's actually meant to look like.

Twice-Baked Soufflé in Tomato-Cream Sauce

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1 recipe soufflé batter for spinach-parmesan soufflé
• 1/2 c. table (18%) cream¹
• 1 (400mL) can diced tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 c. grated Gruyère or fontina

Directions

1. DO NOT BAKE THE SOUFFLÉ AS DIRECTED IN THE RECIPE.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and generously grease six ramekins² and "flour" them with dry breadcrumbs. Put a kettle on to boil.
3. Divide the soufflé mixture among the ramekins.
4. Run a fingertip around the inside rim of each soufflé.
5. Place a roasting pan or similar large, deep dish in the oven and place the soufflés in it.
6. Carefully pour boiling water into the pan so that it comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
7. Bake until the soufflés are puffed and brown on top (35-40 minutes).
8. Remove from oven and let stand in hot water bath for 10 minutes.
9. Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature. The soufflés will shrink. This is normal.
10. Run a spatula around the sides of each soufflé and turn them out.
11. Place, browned-side-up, in a large baking dish (or individual gratin dishes).
12. Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake again.
13. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
14. Meanwhile, combine the cream and tomatoes and bring to a boil.
15. Reduce heat to medium and stir in the basil.
16. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for ~10 minutes.
17. Stir in the slat and pepper and remove from heat.
18. Spoon the sauce over the soufflés.
19. Sprinkle the tops with the grated cheese.
20. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes.
21. Serve immediately!

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¹ The original recipe calls for 1 c. heavy cream and 1 c. diced tomatoes. I ended up using ~3/4 c. heavy cream + ~1/4 c. 1% milk and ~400mL diced tomatoes. It was delicious like this, but I think it would've been fine with a bit less cream, so I've adjusted it down a bit here. ^Back
2 The recipe calls for six 5-oz. (~150mL) or four 8-oz. (~240mL) ramekins. This doesn't seem like it would provide enough volume though since the soufflé recipe produces enough batter to fill a 6-cup (~1.4L) baking dish. I would think you'd need six 8-oz. ramekins, not four! So... uh, proceed with caution, I guess. ^Back

I'd never made a soufflé before this. I don't think I'd ever even eaten one before. However, we finally got around to pulling the rest of our cookbooks out of storage and I've been enjoying reacquainting myself with some of them. I mostly remember the Good Egg for its spaghetti with fried eggs recipe. I don't think I ever made much else from it. But I figured maybe it was time to give it another look.

I've always been rather intimidated by soufflés. Having read over the recipe though, it didn't really seem any worse than making an angel food cake. A bit more fuss at the beginning with making the base, but nothing really difficult. And the mixing and baking isn't really any more complicated either. And, as an added bonus, soufflés are expected to fall upon being removed from the oven, so you don't have to fuss with trying to cool them upside down or anything. I think my biggest issue was not being sure when it was done. After 35 minutes it was quite dark on top but still slightly runny in the centre. Another 10 minutes in the oven solved that nicely though. All-in-all, I would say my first venture into soufflés was a success!

I forgot to create a trench around the edge to give it the traditional "top hat" shape. Oh well... it was still delicious!

Spinach and Parmesan Soufflé

Slighlty adapted from the Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• dry breadcrumbs, for coating the dish
• 275g fresh or frozen spinach
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/4 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 3 large eggs, separated + 1 large egg white
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and grease a 6-cup casserole/soufflé dish and coat it with fine dry breadcrumbs. Alternatively, you may use extra grated Parmesan to coat the dish.
2. Lightly cook the spinach by your preferred method, squeeze it dry, and finely chop it. Set aside.
3. Melt the butter over low heat.
4. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes.
5. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil.
6. Cook, stirring constantly, for another 3 minutes.
7. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg and remove from heat.
8. Mix a little of the sauce (milk mixture) into the egg yolks to temper them.
9. Add the remaining sauce to the yolks and mix well.
10. Stir in the cheese and spinach.
11. Place the egg whites in a large, clean bowl.
12. Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites.
13. Beat with an electric mixer on low until soft peaks form.
14. Increase speed to high and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
15. Add ~1/3 of the beaten egg whites to the base (spinach-cheese) mixture and stir to loosen and combine.
16. Now add the lightened base mixture to the bowl with the egg whites and carefully fold them into the mixture.
17. Carefully pour the mixture into the prepared dish.
18. Smooth the top with a spatula and make a trench ~2cm deep around the outside edge with your finger or the back of a spoon. This will give your soufflé the traditional "top hat" shape.
19. Place the soufflé in the oven and reduce temperature to 190°C (375°F).
20. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 35-45 minutes depending on how firm you like your soufflé.