Information Courtesy of Prepared Pantry

If you can make an angel food cake, you can make soufflés. Like an angel food cake, you fold a flavored base and egg whites together. Once you know the technique, it's not hard and the results are not only scrumptious, but FUN to eat as well.

The word soufflé means to "puff up" and that is exactly what it does. Soufflés rely on a hot oven to create steam to rise and puff-up. They can be made as a dessert or a main dish; the difference is the kind of base used. Dessert or sweet soufflés are made from a heavy-cream base sweetened with sugar. Main dish or savory soufflés are made from a roux base made of butter and flour. In today's issue, you will find savory soufflés but the techniques are the same.

Tips for Successful Soufflés

A soufflé is a fragile creation made of eggs and milk with other ingredients added for flavor. Whipped egg whites are folded into a flavored base. Steam in a hot oven makes them rise. They should be served immediately; as they cool, the steam escapes and they partially collapse.

1. Don’t open the oven door when baking, instead, turn on the light in the oven to see what’s happening inside.

2. Use an food-safe thermometer to check doneness, the internal temperature should reach 160.

3. Don’t over beat the egg whites. For soufflés, we want soft-peak egg whites. When you take out your whip from the egg whites, the peak should fold over and the egg whites will still look very wet. They will not hold their shape. If you have gotten to the meringue-stage in egg whites, you have gone too far.

4. When folding in the egg whites to the soufflé base, make sure there are no egg white streaks. Although you want to do this step gently, don’t under do it. You will know that you have mixed it well, when there are no white streaks and no soufflé streaks, there is only one color: the combined mixture.

5. Use only straight-sided ramekins. If the ramekins have fluted or diagonal sides, it will be harder for the soufflé to rise over the top of the ramekins.

6. Serve immediately!

Cheese Souffle
This recipe is made in two parts, a base and the finished soufflé.

For the Base
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cup milk
7 egg yolks
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.
Add flour to make roux, stirring constantly, and cook for about 10 minutes, or until browned. The mixture will be very thick, stir constantly to prevent burning the flour-butter mixture.
Add milk one tablespoon at a time stirring constantly and combine completely before adding the next tablespoon. This helps prevent lumps and makes the mixture smooth and thick.
After the milk has been combined, mix a little bit of the flour mixture into the egg yolks to temper the eggs. Combine the mixture together in the saucepan still cooking over medium heat for two to three minutes stirring constantly.
Add salt and pepper and remove from heat. Set aside until ready to use.

For the soufflé
Soufflé Base (recipe above)
2 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
7 egg whites
Softened butter
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Make soufflé base.
Stir cheddar cheese, garlic powder and salt and pepper (if desired) into soufflé base.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Prepare five ramekins by thoroughly buttering the inside, coat with grated parmesan cheese, and set aside on a cookie sheet.
In a separate clean bowl, whip egg whites to a soft peak. Gently fold in egg whites into cheese soufflé mixture. Fill each ramekin to the brim of soufflé batter. Bake at 400 degrees until internal temperature is 160 (about 20-25 minutes).