Tuesdays with Dorie - Chocolate Souffle

I am so excited!! This is my first official post since joining and being accepted into TWD.  Last week, though I hadn't heard from Laurie, I baked the Espresso Cheesecake Brownies. Of course I broke one of the rules right off the bat by posting on Sunday night instead of Tuesday. But, Susan  was kind enough to put a bug in my ear about posting on Tuesday only (of course if I had paid attention to the simple rules I would have noticed that)and, I wasn't really a member yet, so hopefully no harm done. 

I made this recipe twice. Was not happy with the way the first batch turned out. I baked some in a shallow baking dish I had that seemed to have the right capacity (6-7 cups) but I am not sure if I used too much butter on the dish, or it was too shallow or what, but the souffle did not rise, there were no cracks on top, it was just a flat dark brown circle in the bottom of the dish. No pictures of that mess!) The funny thing was though, that I also baked a little of the batter in a coffee cup, and it baked up fine. Puffed, looked great...until I tried to take it out of the silly cup to put on a plate to take a picture.

Not as pretty as it was in the cup, but the taste was fabulous. A slight crunch around the edges, while the center was soft, almost pudding like. And, the chocolate was so intense. I served it with the Cream Anglaise and it was delicious. Of course my hubby said it looked fine, just like the ones you see on the Three Stooges. Thanks honey. :}

I tried the recipe a second time. This time I baked it in small ramekins I bought just for the job. The recipe itself is not that hard. Melt chocolate and sugar, mix in milk and egg yolks, fold in egg whites and bake. I am not sure why all these years I have stayed away from trying souffles. Guess I heard too many horror stories. The second time they turned out perfect. The batter rose above the rims of all the dishes. It was cracked and tall and just beautiful. Of course, you don't have a lot of time to take photos with souffles. By the time I got them out, dusted them with powdered sugar, placed them on the plate and began to snap pictures, they were already sinking. But, I think I got a couple of good shots, and lord, were they delicious!

So, thank you Susan for choosing this recipe. I love chocolate and was so tickled to try something I had never baked before, and see it turn out so beautifully! Oh, and I am very happy to now be an official TWD baker!