Crab and Artichoke Souffle

Okay. Here we are again with another souffle. This one did NOT cave in like the pumpkin souffle did.

I was really excited to try another souffle, and a savory one at that.

Originally I had wanted to have a souffle night where I would make this one and another one for dessert, but they are too much work for that.

However, I did conquer the souffle (I think). Aren't you proud of me??? I sure am! LOL!!

I have some other news to share with you. This is Jolts & Jollies 101st post. That means, I've shared 100 food type things.

That's pretty cool.

I always thought I'd do something incredibly special for the 100th post...but it came and went without my even realizing it.

Sad.

Oh well.

I will tell you all that I've been toying with the idea of changing things up around here. The more I learn and change through this blog, the more I want to change about the look. Maybe even the name.

But Jolts & Jollies is special to me. Maybe just adding "cafe" at the end of it?? Jolts & Jollies Cafe? Or just leave it the same? Who knows.

When I first started posting about food, I never knew how important this site and concept would be for me.

I have met some of the most amazing people through this blog. I may even meet one of them in person next month! How fun would that be???

Anyway. I want to say thank you.

Thank you for allowing me to learn.

Thank you for allowing me to grow.

Thank you for being there and moving through the journey with me.

Especially, thanks to those of you who have been there since the VERY beginning when I didn't even have a clue what this blog was about.

And thank you for letting me talk about souffles again!

Let's move on to this souffle. I'm so glad I did it!

Here we go.

Ingredients: unbleached all purpose flour, flaked crab, Gruyere cheese (I found an apple smoked Gruyere that was delicious!), tarragon (or chives), ground white pepper, cream of tartar, artichoke hearts, salt, milk, eggs, bread crumbs and non-stick cooking spray.

Please pay no attention to the cornstarch. I think I'm slowly losing my mind. That definitely has no part in this recipe.

Spray one large or 6 small ramekins with the cooking spray.

Coat each ramekin with bread crumbs. Place the prepared ramekins on a parchment lined baking sheet.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter then whisk in the flour to make a roux, or paste. While stirring continuously slowly work in the milk. Add the herbs.

Then add the cheese. Continue to stir until the cheese is good and melted and the mixture is thick and smooth. Remove from heat.

I don't have a picture of this step but in a small bowl, beat the egg yolks. Then take a bit of the cheese sauce and slowly add it to the egg yolks while continuously stirring so as not to cook the eggs. You just want to warm them. Then slowly add the egg mixture into the pan with the rest of the cheese sauce.

Now add the diced artichoke hearts and crab meat. Mix until combined.

In a mixing bowl, beat your egg whites (I added a pinch of cream of tartar to them to help them firm up) until stiff peaks form.

Working in 3 batches, gently fold the egg whites into the crab and artichoke mixture.

Evenly distribute the batter into the prepared ramekins. Place them in the prepared oven.

And bake until richly brown, about 25 minutes for the small ramekins.

Serve and enjoy!!

And rejoice that you made a souffle that didn't cave in before it was served! Woohoo!

Crab and Artichoke Souffle
Retrieved from The Daring Kitchen

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (4 oz) crab meat, flaked and lightly-packed
• ½ cup finely chopped cooked artichoke hearts (frozen, fresh or from a jar is OK, but please don’t use the marinated-in-oil style), Alternatively, lightly sautéed leeks would be nice here too.
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3 large egg whites, room temperature
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup (2 ½ oz) Gruyere cheese, shredded
• ½ teaspoon white pepper
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon dried chives or tarragon
• 1 cup milk
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Additional butter and bread crumbs for preparing the dishes

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to moderate 375 ˚F
2. Prepare dishes – you can use one 2-quart six 1-cup/240 ml soufflé dishes – by buttering the dish, then coating with bread crumbs. (You may have some left over soufflé mixture if you go with the smaller soufflé dishes.)
3. Chop the artichoke hearts into ¼ inch dice. If you use frozen or from a jar, then there’s no need to cook them. If you are using fresh, then steam gently until just softened, about 5 minutes or sauté over low heat until just ever so lightly browned.
4. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the flour to make a roux. – you just want to get the flour evenly blended to a paste, not cook the roux for any length of time. 
5. Gradually stir in the milk, mixing all the time. 
6. Add herbs, then the cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted and you have a thick sauce. Remove from heat.
7. Beat the egg yolks well and gently warm them by adding some of the cheese sauce. Gradually stir the egg yolks into the cheese sauce until well blended.
8. Add the artichoke and flaked crab meat to the cheese sauce.
9. Beat the egg whites until at the stiff peak stage.
10. Fold the whites in thirds into the sauce.
12. Bake for 40 min if you’re using a large soufflé dish or 25 min if using smaller dishes – the soufflé should be richly browned.
13. Serve and enjoy!!

Daring Cooks November 2010: Souffles

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.


I will admit...when I read what this month's challenge was I was incredibly intimidated. 


Me??


Make a souffle???


Are you kidding me??


The only thing that kept playing in my head over and over again was a scene in one of the Charlie's Angels movies where Lucy Lui's trailer is being shot up and all she's concerned about is whether her souffle deflated or not. 


Yikes!


I've heard the horror stories. 


I've heard that you need intense quiet or your souffle will fall.


I have a 3 year old people!! How am I supposed to be able to get a souffle to rise with a crazy 3 year old running around the house???


So...before I tried one of the provided recipes, I decided to try a delicious sounding recipe that one of the Daring Cook members posted. 


Sarahj from Yay! For Baking!!! posted a recipe for a non-fat pumpkin souffle. And I think by now you all may or may not know that I am a sucker for pumpkin.


So I needed to try it out. 


I made this recipe for a dinner party. And let me tell you...making souffles while your house is full of loud Army guys does NOT work.


Needless to say, my souffle deflated very quickly.


They came out of the oven all fluffed up and pretty. But caved in about 90 seconds later.


Luckily, I snapped some photos before the little guys died. 


But who cares! These were absolutely delicious!!!


And now, thanks to Dave and Linda for forcing me to make souffles and Sarahj for posting this recipe I get to share it with you!


To see how the other Daring Cooks did with this challenge, head over to the blogroll and check it out.


And don't forget to stop by on Wednesday to see how my second attempt at making a souffle turned out!


Let's get started.

Grab your ingredients: skim milk, cream of tartar, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground allspice (please don't ask me what the allspice is doing in this picture because I just don't know), cornstarch, granulated sugar and egg whites.


Start by spraying your ramekins with non-stick cooking spray and coating with granulated sugar. The recipe recommended preparing 8 ramekins. But either my ramekins are too big or my egg whites didn't puff enough because I was only able to fill 3 ramekins with the batter. However, I'm willing to bet it was me and I'll tell you what I most likely did wrong later.

Combine the milk, cornstarch, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar in a small saucepan. Heat over medium high heat until thick, stirring constantly.

Add the pumpkin, mix well. Remove to medium mixing bowl to cool.

In another mixing bowl, add together the egg whites and cream of tartar. 


Here was mistake number one with the egg whites. I used straight from the refrigerator egg whites. And that just doesn't work. Room temperature egg whites stabilize and rise better than cold egg whites. So...remember to allow your egg whites to reach room temperature.

Beat the egg whites until frothy...

Then gradually add in the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar while continuing to beat the egg whites.


You should probably not dump the sugar like this. Add the sugar in about a tablespoon at a time making sure it's well mixed in before adding more.

Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Mine never really got to stiff. Sad. 

Fold some of the egg whites into the pumpkin mixture to lighten...

Then working in two batches, fold in the rest of the egg whites.

Place the batter into the prepared ramekins, smoothing the top with a spatula. Run your thumb around the edge of the batter (this is supposed to help the souffle rise straight up). Bake 15-20 minutes.

Remove from oven, snap some pictures, get sad when they immediately deflate, then serve them anyway. Enjoy!!! 

Non-Fat Pumpkin Souffle

Slightly adapted from Yay! For Baking!!!

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 6 tablespoons (3 oz) pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup egg whites, room temperature
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 1/3 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Prep 8 ramekins by spraying with non-stick cooking spray and coating with sugar.
3. Mix together milk, cornstarch, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar in a small saucepan. Heat over med-high heat until thick, stirring constantly. Add pumpkin, remove to medium mixing bowl, let cool.
4. In a super-clean bowl beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until frothy. While beating, add the sugar gradually. Beat until stiff peaks form.
5. Fold some of the whites into the pumpkin mixture to lighten, then the rest in two batches.
6. Spoon into ramekins, scraping off the top. Run your thumb around the edge.
7. Bake 15-20 minutes.
8. Serve and enjoy!

Black Forest Cupcakes

Last month, my facebook baking group chose a black forest cake as the group recipe.

The girl who hosted the month said that black forest cake was traditionally served at Okterberfest celebrations. She thought this recipe would make a great October selection for the group.

I was very excited about the recipe...except for the fact that I don't really care for chocolate...or cherries. Other than that? This recipe was awesome! LOL!

As the group began baking this cake some members were having difficulties with the frosting. Other's had issues with the cake itself.

So I decided to make the cake into little cupcakes.

Seeing as how I don't like cherries or chocolate and was none too thrilled about the combination of flavors in this dessert, I took these to a dinner party. 2 out of 3 people thought they were delicious.

One woman who tried the cupcake mentioned that the German idea of 'sweets' was not the same as the American idea. The Germans tend to favor desserts with less sugar than the Americans.

That being said, these are a great treat for those of you out there who do not care for body twitching sugary desserts.

Either way, the recipe was fun to make and I liked how they turned out looks wise. I enjoyed making the recipe into cupcakes instead of a 3 layer cake.

Here's how I made these cupcakes:

Grab your ingredients: eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, bread flour, cocoa powder, pastry flour, vegetable oil, cream of tartar, cornstarch, butter, whipping cream, cherry brandy and cherries (I could not find fresh so used canned. You can also use jarred if you wish).

We are going to start by making the cake. Place 5 eggs in a mixer and whip on high speed for 5 minutes.

Once the eggs are whipped up, add the sugar, salt and vanilla and mix well to combine.

Take the bowl off the mixing stand and place it atop a pot of simmering water. Heat the mixture to between 110 and 115 degrees F.

Once the mixture is heated, place it back on the mixing stand and whip for another 15 minutes to stabilize the mixture.

While the mixer is mixing for 15 minutes, go ahead and sift together the bread flour, pastry flour and cocoa powder.

Gradually fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. While folding, slowly add in the oil.

Continue folding until all the ingredients are well combined.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured muffin pan. Immediately place in the oven and bake until the cake springs back to the touch, about 18-20 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

While the cake is baking, make the syrup. Combine the sugar, water, cherry brandy and cream of tartar in a small saucepan. Cook on low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Cover and let simmer about 2 minutes then remove from heat to let cool.

Next up, the cherry filling. Place the cherries and cherry brandy in a small saucepan and stir to coat the cherries.

Cook over medium low heat until most of the brandy evaporates, about 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool.

Now we can work on the pastry cream. Reserve 2 Tablespoons of the milk. Then combine the rest of the milk with half the sugar in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil.

In a small bowl, combine the reserved milk with the cornstarch and whisk to make a slurry, or thin paste.

Then whisk in the rest of the sugar and the eggs.

Temper (or warm up) the egg mixture by slowly whisking in some of the heated milk to the mixture.

Now pour the warmed egg mixture into into the pot of boiling milk. Bring back to a boil, whisking constantly, and cook for 1 minute.

Remove the mixture from the heat. Then whisk in the butter and vanilla until the butter is melted and everything is combined.

Pour the cream into a large pan, cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool.

Now that everything is cooked and cooled it is time to start assembling the cupcakes! Take your cooled cupcakes and cut them in half horizontally.

Grab your cooled syrup and a pastry brush. Brush generous amounts of the syrup onto each cupcake half (or you can try to drizzle/pour the syrup over the cupcakes but I was too scared to do that).

Spoon some of the cherries onto the bottom of each syrup covered cupcake. Then spread some of the pastry cream onto the tops of each cupcake. Place the tops onto the cherry covered bottoms.

Whip the heavy cream and sugar on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Using whatever method you enjoy, top the cupcakes with the whipped cream. I placed my whipped cream into a pastry bag with a 1M decorating tip and swirled it. You can get a similar effect by putting the whipped cream in a large ziplock bag and cutting off the corner. Or you can spread or spoon it on.

Decorate with cherries or sprinkle cocoa powder on top.

Serve to your friends. And enjoy!!

Oh! And if this recipe interests you, come on over to our group and join us!

Black Forest Cupcakes
Slightly adapted from Food Network

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon bread flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon pastry flour
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon oil

For the syrup:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 4 teaspoons cherry brandy
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

For the cherry filling:

• 1 quart fresh cherries, pitted and halved
• 1 cup cherry brandy

For the Pastry Cream:

• 1 1/3 cups milk, divided
• 1/3 cup sugar, divided
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the whipped cream topping:

• 1 pint heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

For the Cupcakes:

1. Heat a skillet full of water to a bare simmer. 
2. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, whip eggs on high speed for 5 minutes. 
3. To the eggs add sugar, salt and vanilla and combine. 
4. Set the bowl into the hot water bath to heat the mixture to between 110 and 120 degrees F.
5. Stabilize the mixture by whipping on medium speed for 15 more minutes.
6. Meanwhile sift together the bread flour, the cocoa powder, and the pastry flour. Prepare the baking pans by greasing 2 cupcake pans and dusting with flour.
7. Gradually fold the sifted dry ingredients into the egg mixture by hand. Slowly pour in the oil while folding.
8. Fill the muffin pans approximately 2/3 full with the batter and place immediately in the oven. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes. (The surface of the cake should spring back when touched.) 
9. Cool 10 minutes in the pans, then remove to wire racks to let cool completely.

For the syrup:

1. Combine the sugar, water, cherry brandy, and cream of tartar in a small saucepan. 
2. Cook over low heat stirring only until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is hot. 
3. Cover and simmer gently for 2 minutes. 
4. Remove from heat, uncover and let cool.

For the cherry filling:

1. Place cherries in a small saucepot and add brandy, stirring to coat cherries. 
2. Heat over medium low heat until most of liquid evaporates, then remove from heat and let cool.

For the pastry cream:

1. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the milk then combine the rest of the milk with half the sugar and bring to a gentle boil. 
2. In a small bowl whisk the 2 tablespoons of reserved milk into the cornstarch to create a slurry. 
3. Add the other half of the sugar and then the eggs to the slurry and whisk to completely combine. 
4. Temper the egg mixture with the boiling milk. (This is done by spooning some of the milk into the egg mixture to equalize temperatures without cooking the eggs.) 
5. Return all liquids to the pot and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Cook for 1 minute. 
6. Remove the milk mixture from the heat and whisk in butter and vanilla extract. 
7. Pour into a large pan, put plastic wrap directly on the surface, and allow to cool.
8. Slice each of the cupcakes (horizontally). 
9. Place the cupcake halves onto baking sheets (which have a rim) and pour or brush cherry syrup over the layers, allowing them to soak.

For the cream topping:

1. Whip the heavy cream and sugar with an electric mixer on high to a stiff peak.
2. Assemble the cakes by spreading a layer of the pastry cream on the top half, then placing brandied cherries on the bottom half. Place cupcake halves together. Repeat with remaining cupcakes.
3. Frost top layer of cake with whipped cream topping and garnish with cherries or sifted cocoa powder.