Chocolate Souffles....

I decided to make some chocolate souffles for dessert tonight. My mom was making dinner for all of us, delicious chicken soup that is always made when the weather turn even slightly cold. It was like 84 degrees, with cold breezes, and an overcast sky. I know, I know, soooo cold, right? Coming from 95-triple digits last week, it was. And it's rather cold tonight too.... For southern california summer, anyways.

When I made the blackberry pie the other day, I was making it for Jesse's grandmother's birthday dinner. Well, my oldest brother Louis and his girlfriend were at home and had apparently scoped it out. They decided to come ask me if they could have some but by the time he came to get me, the pie and I were long gone. They were so disappointed and craving pie that Louis was forced to go to Marie Calenders. Haha. Well, the plan was to eat said pies tonight for dessert. I decided that was not going to do.

My mom had also recently bought a new (can you see how shiny it is?) toaster oven that has a convection oven setting. Well, what dessert is more perfect for a convection oven than a souffle?

I debated on what recipe to use. I have a recipe from school, which I've used before, for a chocolate souffle; on the other hand, I just recently bought 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' by Mrs Julia Child. I ended up decided on giving her recipe a try as I've never used it before. It was pretty easy to follow and get through, but I did run into the problem of not enough ramekins and a lot of batter. Her recipe calls for a big souffle ramekin and I was making little individual souffles. So, I ended up having to throw about half the batter away. Bummer. There were plenty for everyone, though.

I put them in the toaster and discovered the oven grid is kinda flimsy. I'm going to pick up a small 1/4 sheet pan tomorrow at work and maybe a bigger souffle ramekin. The grid held up fine but it made me nervous. I was also a little concerned the souffles were going to pour over the sides, like cake batter, instead of rising and then I would have a huge toaster mess to clean up. The souffles rose beautifully though. And in half the time of Mrs Child's recipe as she was using a still oven.

As you can see, I had to use pyrex custard cups as well as ceramic ramekins. They worked surprisingly well. And it was pretty cool to see the air bubbles expand as the souffles baked.

Anyways, the souffles were a smash and everyone enjoyed it. I think next time I will make chocolate sauce to pour into the centers. Then they will be ultra delicious.