A Plum Souffle

The other day I had the pleasure of testing a souffle recipe for review. The main ingredient was a jam, a plum jam to be exact, although any good smooth jam would work. I wanted to test it for 2 reasons...

#1 - I love souffles.
#2 - I can make a pretty perfect souffle and I love to eat them and do not know anyone that has had the pleasure, not wanting to do it again.

The fact that I can use any jam was a big bonus to testing this recipe. Like 99% of most houses, I always have half-used bottles of jam/jelly just sitting in my refrigerator. I am not a bread and jam person, so most of them were for a recipe that usually only calls for 1/4 at the most.

I never know what to do with the rest of those jars.
Now I do.


This was my first attempt. Looked really good coming out of the oven, huh? It also did not fall fast like most of my other souffles.

I already loved this recipe until I took a spoon to it, getting a good amount to taste.
Imagine my surprise when it was still totally underdone in the middle, the consistency of soup. That's not good. If it was a tad underdone in the middle, that would be OK. Some people like their souffles molten in the middle. This was not like that. Boy was I disappointed. I really wanted this recipe to work.

Then I figured, I already made them, just put them back into the oven and continue baking.

Now remember, I took a dozen pictures while they stood on the table. Had to be at least 15 minutes out of the oven. Baking them again, is not something that is successfully done in the souffle world. I figured, I wasn't serving them to company, it was only me there, and I could have a great lunch.

Was I surprised when they came out of the oven, it rose even higher than the original ones. I baked them for 10 minutes more a total of 25 minutes in all.

This was the original, first souffle that I pulled out of the oven. It really did rise right back up again. Re-baked souffles usually do not do that. This was something exciting for me.

The one I didn't touch, when re-baked.....turned out like this one....


You can tell by the smoothness of the top. One perfect souffle. Amazing.

When I tasted the first attempt again, it was perfectly cooked in the middle. Light and airy and had great fruit flavor. The top achieved a meringue-like crust.....I will be making these again, soon.

What I love the most about this is I know that I can halfway pre-bake them and then hold them until I am ready to serve and pop them back into the oven for the last 10 minutes and have a perfect souffle without all the hassle.

Plum Souffle
makes 4 (1 cup) or 6 (3/4 cup) ramekins
* 4 eggs, separated at room temperature.
* scant 1/2 cup sugar
* 2/3 cup plum jam
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
* pinch of salt
* powdered sugar, for dusting
* sugar and softened butter, for ramekins

1. Preheat oven to 375. Butter and sugar each ramekin. Set aside.
2. Beat egg whites with salt until stiff peaks form. Add 3 tablespoons sugar, beating till stiff and when bowl is turned over they stay put.
3. Beat yolks and remaining sugar on high speed until lightened. Add lemon juice and cardamom and beat for another minute.
4. Whisk in 1/3 of the egg white mixture until light and fluffy.
Fold in another 1/3 cup gently until white streaks just about disappear. Repeat with the last of the egg whites and fold until no lumps appear, some white streaks are perfectly ok.
5. Fill ramekins to the top, and smooth over.
6. Place on a sheet pan and bake for 25-28 minutes or until an instant read thermometer registers 150 degrees. Remove from oven and serve with powdered sugar.

If prebaking ahead, bake for 14-18 minutes, remove from oven and set aside. Finish making dinner and when ready for dessert, bake souffles for an additional 10 minutes.