Chocolate Souffle

From OSR

Makes 4 servings.

This recipe is adapted from one on the Cooking For Engineers website. It is delicious, not at all difficult, and best of all you can fill the ramekins with the batter and leave them in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Note: you will need a kitchen scale to execute this recipe. If you don't have one it would be a worthwhile purchase if you do any baking at all since weight is a more accurate measure than volume for most baking ingredients.

Ingredients

Ingredients.

4 ounces of chocolate. You'll want to buy a block of high quality chocolate like Valrona, or something similar, that is in the 50-70% cocoa range, or mix blocks from these ranges.

1 ounce of heavy cream (I go slightly over)

1/2 - 1 tablespoon butter

vanilla

35 grams sugar (some powdered, mostly granulated)

3 egg whites

2 egg yolks

Directions

Coat 4 ramekins with butter.

Separate the eggs and add the sugar to the egg whites.

Beat the whites to form peaks.

Shave or chop the chocolate into small pieces so that they will melt easily, and put it into a large metal bowl that will fit over a smaller pot (double-boiler-style). Put the heavy cream in the smallest pot you have (if you have a butter warmer, that's perfect) with the butter and vanilla and heat it until it starts to boil. You may also infuse the cream with mint, lavendar, cardamom, orange peel, etc., at this point if you choose.

Once the cream begins to boil pour it (or strain it if you have been infusing it) over the chocolate. Stir until everything begins to melt together. If there are still chunks left in the chocolate, melt it over a pot of boiling water, stirring constantly. As soon as it has just melted stop, and place the bowl on a cool surface. If you overheat the chocolate it will become grainy. Drop the two egg yolks in and mix well.

Fold into the egg whites gently.

Pour the resulting batter into the ramekins.

At this point you can bake them: 385 for about 15 minutes. You can actually take them out, poke a hole in them with a spoon to see if they're done, and if they're not you can put them back in. If they deflate they'll puff right back up again -- no harm done.

Or you can cover them with plastic wrap and store them in the fridge. Take them out about 15-20 minutes before baking to let them warm up a bit (as the oven preheats).