Damn these were good! And I'd had low expectations: I wanted to play around with some souffle techniques, didn't want to trek to the store and had the ingredients in my pantry. I set out some vanilla gelato and a bowl of olallieberries and raspberries as accompaniments, but the souffles were so delicious that we completely ignored the gelato and added only a scattering of berries.
The dishes are French charlotte molds -- these measue 4-inches across the top and are 2.5-inches deep.
Honey Souffles for Two
(adapted from "Omelettes, Souffles and Frittatas" by Lou Seibert Pappas)
3 eggs separated + white from one additional egg
dash salt
1 Tb. powdered sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 tsp. coarsely grated lemon zest
1 Tb. flour
1 Tb. butter, melted
Place a baking sheet on the lowest oven shelf and preheat oven to 400-degrees. Lavishly butter 2 individual souffle dishes; dust the bottoms and sides with sugar and then place them in the refrigerator.
Beat the egg whites until they just begin to foam ; add the salt and powdered sugar and beat until *soft* peaks form.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and pale in color. Whisk in the honey, lemon zest, flour and butter. Fold one-fourth of the beaten egg whites into the yolk mixture and then fold this into the remaining egg whites.
Spoon into the prepared dishes, filling them to the rim.
Place on the baking sheet in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 375-degrees.
Cook until well-risen and browned on top. Mine were perfect after 10 minutes, but if you use ceramic dishes rather than metal charlotte molds, I suspect they'd take a bit longer.I also suspect that my oven runs a little hot. Once I get my gorgeous new Viking ovens installed I'll be able to provide laboratory-accurate oven temps and times.
Of course, I have to order the ovens first. Details, details.
