Bake your individual soufflés at 425 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes. If you used the 2-quart glass bowl to hold your soufflé, bake it at 425 degrees F. for 25 to 35 minutes. Your soufflé is done when the top cracks open and a long wooden skewer or cake tester inserted in the center of the soufflé comes out clean.
Anne Elizabeth’s Note: I prefer my soufflé gooey in the middle and will often scoop it out into individual bowls with a large serving spoon and serve it with sweetened whipped cream and berries.
To serve your soufflé, either do it as Anne Elizabeth does by scooping it into individual bowls at the table and adding sweetened whipped cream and berries, or put on another topping of your choice, or . . .
If you serve your soufflés in individual soufflé dishes, pull the soufflés apart in the middle with two forks at the table to expose the warm soft center. Then either spoon on the topping yourself or let everyone pour as much sauce and/or berries as they wish on their soufflé.
Yield: 6 yummy individual soufflés or 6 helpings in dessert dishes. These are light, airy, and rich. It’s a dessert that both adults and children will love.
VANILLA NUTMEG SAUCE
? teaspoon white (granulated) sugar
teaspoon salt
? teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
cup flour (not sifted)
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
additional cup of heavy cream
2 beaten eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ounce ( stick) salted butter
Combine the sugar, salt, nutmeg, and flour in a saucepan off the heat. Stir well.
Gradually stir in the milk and ONE CUP ONLY of the heavy cream. Leave the remainder of the heavy cream ( cup) on the counter to warm to room temperature. You will add that later, after your sauce has been cooked.
Blend the ingredients in the saucepan together off the heat.
Turn the burner on MEDIUM HIGH heat and cook the contents of the saucepan, stirring constantly until thickened. (This takes about 10 minutes on my stovetop.)
Remove the saucepan from the heat, but LEAVE THE BURNER ON.
Break the eggs into a small bowl and quickly beat them with a whisk until they’re well mixed.
Stir several Tablespoons of the hot mixture into the bowl with the eggs. Whisk until it’s incorporated.
SLOWLY pour the eggs into the saucepan with the hot mixture, whisking it all the while.
Return the saucepan to the heat and stir for 2 to 3 minutes until the mixture is very thick.
Remove the saucepan from the heat (you can turn off the burner this time). Add the vanilla, stirring it in quickly.
Add the ounce of butter and stir it in until it’s melted.
Let the mixture cool until it is slightly warmer than lukewarm. Then stir in the third cup of heavy cream. Pour the sauce into a pitcher so that you can serve it with your soufflé.
Yield: enough Vanilla Nutmeg Sauce to serve over 6 individual soufflés.
MILK CHOCOLATE SAUCE
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
additional cup of heavy cream at room temperature
? cup white (granulated) sugar
6 ounces (by weight, not volume) milk chocolate chips (I used a 6-ounce package of Nestle Milk Chocolate Chips)
2 large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ounce ( stick) salted butter
Combine the milk, ONE CUP ONLY of heavy cream, and sugar in a heavy saucepan off the heat. Let the additional third cup of heavy cream sit on the counter to warm to room temperature.
Heat the mixture over MEDIUM HIGH heat on the stove, stirring constantly until little whiffs of steam start to escape and you think it’s about to boil.
Pull the saucepan from the heat, but don’t turn off the burner. This next step will take only a moment or two.
Add the milk chocolate chips to the sweet milk and cream mixture, stirring them in until they’re melted.
Give the beaten eggs a final stir and add approximately 2 Tablespoons of the chocolate mixture to the eggs, stirring it in quickly. (This is called tempering and it’s important—without it you could have scrambled eggs.)
Off the heat, SLOWLY pour the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture in the saucepan, stirring all the while. When everything is incorporated, put the saucepan back on the heat.
Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a full boil. (This took about 3 minutes for me on my stove.) Pull the saucepan off the heat and this time you can turn off the burner.
Quickly stir in the vanilla. Then stir in the butter and continue to stir until the butter is melted.
Let the mixture cool on the counter for five minutes and then stir in the third cup of heavy cream.
Pour the Milk Chocolate Sauce into a pitcher and serve it with your White Chocolate Soufflés.