Lemon Soufflés

I did it! I seriously could not rest until I attempted this lemon soufflé again. It's the same recipe as the one I tried here. To help prepare, I probably watched this video of Gordon Ramsay making a passion fruit and banana soufflé five times. It's not the same recipe, but you can pick up a lot of tips from it.

This was the point where I said a little prayer, crossed my fingers, and wished the little ramekins good luck.

So far so good in the oven!

Still good! It's out of the oven and still stable! I was still worried that the cool air would sink it right away.

My mom took out a little box of decorative rocks for my photo shoot. <3

There were more... but I've limited it to these two rock photos. This one says "summer." =)

Time to dig in, nice and lemony! Have a great Canada Day!

Learning about Soufflés

For Father's Day, Howard and I wanted to make soufflés for my dad. My mom had told me that dad ordered a soufflé every night when they went on their cruise. We were also recently inspired by Mary Sue on Top Chef Masters and Dale MacKay on Top Chef Canada.

I spent Friday looking through a couple of cookbooks to look for lemon soufflé recipes. I found one in Ready for Dessert and showed it to Howard. In the short intro to the recipe, the author had written that there are chocolate people in the world and there are lemon people. So true! Howard's a lemon person and I'm a chocolate one. =)

Here's the super lemony soufflé recipe, slightly adapted from the book:

Lemon Soufflés

Recipe adapted from Ready for Dessert

(Makes about 6)

3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

1/3 cup of sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar

A pinch of salt

2/3 cup of milk

4 large eggs, separated

2 tablespoons of butter

Zest from 2 lemons

3 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice

Extra sugar and butter to coat the molds

1. Lightly butter the bottom and edges of six ramekin or soufflé molds. Pour some sugar into each, tilt and rotate to coat the interior. Pour out the excess.
2. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the flour, 1/3 cup of sugar, and the pinch of salt.
3. Whisk in about 1/3 of the milk - whisk until smooth. Then add in the remaining milk.
4. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it thickens to look like custard.
5. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks and butter.
6. Return to the heat and cook until it starts to boil and bubbles appear on the surface.
7. Turn off the heat, transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Stir in the lemon zest and let it cool.
   
8. Stir in the 3 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice.
9. Using a stand mixer, whisk the egg whites on low speed until frothy. Increase the speed to high and add the 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk until the whites form stiff peaks.
   
10. Mix 1/4 of the whipped egg whites into the soufflé base.
11. Then fold in the remaining whipped egg whites, be careful not to deflate them.
12. Divide the soufflés mixture evenly. Sprinkle each with a light dusting of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice. Bake until the tops are light brown, about 10-15 minutes. Serve immediately.

Our first soufflé didn't turn out properly. It sunk in the oven and deflated when we took it out. I was pretty bummed out, but Howard tried to make me feel better by saying they are known for being tricky and that I shouldn't expect it to work on my first try (but I did expect it to work, I am good at following instructions). Then I debated doing a post about our deflated dessert and decided to. This is all a learning experience after all!

Perhaps you can help us? I do have a convection oven - not ideal for baking, but I've been able to make it work for cakes. Does anyone know if I should use a different setting with my oven?

We will be attempting the soufflé again. I can't let this get the best of me! I did some more research and here are some tips if you're going to making one soon:

• Just like baking cakes, have your butter and eggs at room temperature
• After buttering and sugaring the interiors of the molds, let them "set" in the refrigerator
• Adding a little bit of lemon juice helps strengthen the egg whites
• To avoid lumpy soufflés, fold in the egg whites until smooth
• Tap the molds down on a cloth to evenly distribute the batter, then fill the batter to the top and slice off any excess
• Using your finger, create a mini ring in the batter along the edge
• Set your oven temperature to be a bit higher, because when the door opens, the temperature drops
• Don't lower the temperature or open your oven door while the soufflé is baking
• Work quickly and have your equipment and ingredients ready

Do you have any tips or tricks?

We hope you had a wonderful Father's Day!

New Owners of Our Favourite Cookbooks

Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a very nice holiday and rang in the new year with cheer!

It was so nice to sleep in and eat out for a week. And did we eat! Howard and I tried many desserts in Las Vegas and gave ourselves a dinner at Bouchon for Christmas. When we came home, we were met with many lunch and dinner get-togethers with family and friends. On New Year's Eve, I still remember that the last item I ate was a piece of cantaloupe and Howard's was a slice of cucumber with five cheese dip (we never did finish that fruit and veggie platter as we watched the countdown on TV). It wasn't until the day before work started that we actually ate at home! I guess we may have gotten plumper.

Before the holidays, we ran our Favourite Cookbooks Giveaway. We promised to announce the winners today, so we used Random.org's List Randomizer to generate them.

Aren't the covers and back covers of these cookbooks appetizing? The two lucky winners are announced below:

The winner of The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook: The Best Sweet and Savory Recipes for Every Occasion by John Barricelli is:

Congratulations Ceri Marsh! Ceri shared What to Cook and How to Cook by Jane Hornby with us. Thank you! We hope you enjoy creating yumminess like this:

Next, the winner of Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes by David Lebovitz is:

Congratulations Sara! Sara shared Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. It's actually quite puzzling as to why we don't have this cookbook yet! Please enjoy the scrumptious creations:

Ceri and Sara, please e-mail info@abakedcreation.com - we will need your mailing information in order to ship you your cookbook (d'oh! I forgot to ask for e-mails again).

Thank you to everyone for entering and we wish you a delectable and delicious 2011!

Our Favourite Cookbooks of the Year

Hey Sylvia, do you want a new shirt or a new book? Book please. Are you a cookbook enthusiast? I hope so. I thought that I would recommend some of our favourite cookbooks that we got this year. In alphabetical order:

Ad Hoc at Home
by Thomas Keller with Dave Cruz, Susie Heller, Michael Ruhlman, and Amy Vogler
Photographs by Deborah Jones
Blackboard art by Dan Bunter and Nick Dedier
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published by Artisan
ISBN 9781579653774

Do I thank this cookbook for giving me my favourite carrot cupcake? Yes.

Apart from the delicious dessert recipes, this is one of those gift or coffee table books for those looking to be inspired to cook. There are beautiful photographs and the chalkboard design accompanying these stellar recipes.

Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented
by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
Photographs by Tina Rupp
Hardcover, 208 pages
Published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang
ISBN 9781584798507

You know I'm going to recommend the guys at Baked. If I didn't love their cookbooks that much, I wouldn't have ran through rush hour to meet them.

I love learning about reinvented desserts, I have enough cookbooks that share basic and classic recipes. This book is fun and filled with the right amount of twists and tweaks to old favourites.

Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook: Breakfast, Brunch, and Beyond from New York's Favorite Neighborhood Restaurant
by Neil Kleinberg, Diana H. Lahman
Photographs by Michael Harlan Turkell
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published by Little, Brown and Company
ISBN 9780316083379

This book gave us brookies. Need I say more?

This was also my first breakfast and brunch cookbook. I went and picked up others after this. Who knew there were such great treasures to be found in brunch cookbooks? Admittedly, I thought it would be all about pancakes, eggs, ham, and toast. I guess I haven't had a real breakfast until I've eaten at Clinton St. Baking Company!

Momofuku
by David Chang and Peter Meehan
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published by Clarkson Potter
ISBN 9780307451958

This book is a really good read, while you might not go out and make their soup stock, you'll still be satisfied learning about David Chang's restaurants.

I know that this is one Howard really likes because Momofuku Noodle Bar is one of his favourite places to eat in New York City. Watching him go through the cookbook to find dishes he's tried and then seeing him gasp at how much work it takes to make is priceless!

Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes
by David Lebovitz
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published by Ten Speed Press
ISBN 9781580081382

With a title like that and a cover like that, it is no wonder that I would pick this up. And am I glad I did!

Remember that I said I like new variations to classic desserts? This one also fits the bill! Most of the recipes are ones that I haven't seen elsewhere and I like that they intrigue and challenge me.

The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook: The Best Sweet and Savory Recipes for Every Occasion
by John Barricelli
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published by Clarkson Potter
ISBN 9780307449450

I love curling up with this book in bed. There is such a feeling of comfort when you're with fantastic photography and yummy recipes at your fingertip.


Whoopie Pies: Dozens of Mix 'em, Match 'em, Eat 'em Up Recipes
by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell
Photographs by Antonis Achilleos
Hardcover, 120 pages
Published by Chronicle Books
ISBN 9780811874540

Yes, I discovered whoopie pies this year. I'm still on a whoopie pie high!

This is an adorable book with puffy covers. (Like a whoopie pie! Well thought-out ladies!) Hopefully this book will give you lots of fun and lots of inspirations from their different whoopie pie recipes.


Since it is also the season to be giving, I bought an extra copy of David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert and John Barricelli's The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook. Would you like to win them?

To enter our Favourite Cookbooks Giveaway:

1. Please tell us your favourite cookbook in the comments below! Also tell us which cookbook (Ready for Dessert or The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook) you're hoping to win. One entry per person please.
2. This contest is open to residents of Canada and the U.S.A. only! But, if you have friends and family with a Canadian or American mailing address, feel free to enter.
3. The Our Favourite Cookbook Giveaway is open on December 17th 2010 until January 3rd 2011. So you have plenty of time to enter! Comments submitted after 12 midnight EST on January 3rd will not be considered.
4. There will be two winners, one for Ready for Dessert and one for The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook. Winners will be randomly drawn.
5. The winners will be announced on January 4th 2011 on our blog, a nice way to ring in the new year.