Soufflés have a reputation of being difficult, but they are not that hard and extremely festive. Just remember that they will fall no matter what you do as soon as they cool, so serve them as quickly as possible. We got a raspberry soufflé for breakfast at Librije’s Hotel a few weeks ago, and I liked it so much that I decided to create my own. I don’t have their recipe, this is something I created myself by mixing and matching various recipes for other soufflés that I found in various sources. I also used Harold McGee‘s advise for making soufflé. The soufflés turned out great! And I also discovered that you can refrigerate the soufflé up to 24 hours before baking it, so this is great to prepare beforehand and just pop into the oven half an hour before you’d like to surprise your guests! You can make this with frozen raspberries which are cheaper than fresh and available year-round.

Ingredients

For 4 servings (250 ml/1 cup ramekins)

375 grams (1 1/2 cups) raspberries, fresh or frozen (defrosted 24 hours in the refrigerator)

120 grams (1/2 cup) sugar, preferably vanilla-scented (created by keeping vanilla beans in your sugar jar)

250 ml (1 cup) whipping cream

40 grams (4 Tbsp) corn starch (maizena)

40 grams (3 Tbsp) butter

3 eggs, separated

more butter and sugar for coating the ramekins

1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 Tbsp raspberry liqueur or kirsch

Preparation

 

Puree 250 grams (1 cup) of the raspberries with a foodmill.

Use a fine sieve to remove the seeds.

 

Add 2 Tbsp sugar and 1 Tbsp lemon juice and stir.

 

Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Turn off the heat and let it cool a bit.

Put the whipping cream, the egg yolks, and the corn starch in a saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, beating to avoid lumps.

 

It is ready when it is starting to thicken. It burns easily, so make sure to keep the heat moderate.

 

Add the two mixtures together, stir and let cool.

 

Meanwhile, mix the remaining 125 grams (1/2 cup) raspberries with 1 Tbsp sugar and 1 Tbsp liqueur. Let stand to macerate for a bit.

 

Whip the egg whites  in a clean bowl with clean beaters to stiff but still glossy peaks (still fluid enough to blend easily with the base).

Add 1/4 of the egg foam to the raspberry mixture.

Stir thoroughly to thin it to make it easier to fold in the egg foam.

 

Fold in the remaining foam in three additions with a spatula, slowly and gently scooping up from below and trailing it along the foam.

 

Repeat until mixed evenly with minimal loss of air and lightness.

 

Butter four 250 ml (1 cup) ramekins and coat with sugar.

 

Divide half the macerated raspberries over the ramekins.

Divide the soufflé mixture over the ramekins.

Finish by dividing the remaining macerated raspberries.

At this stage, the soufflés can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours (covered with plastic wrap) without any problems.

 

To serve, bake the soufflés in a preheated oven with the heat coming from below at 180C/350F for 30 minutes. Serve as quickly as possible, because the soufflé will start to fall as soon as you take it out of the oven.

Wine pairing

Since the raspberry soufflés are very sweet and very tart at the same time, this is great with Moscato d’Asti or the famous Hungarian dessert wine Tokaji Aszu that is also very sweet and very tart at the same time (I would recommend 5 or 6 puttonyos for it to be sufficiently sweet). Another dessert wine that is both sweet and tart should also work.