Gathered around the TV, post dinner, my family and I were (of course) watching the Food Network.
Our conversation dominated our attention towards the television until one snapshot of a delectable dessert shut us all up:
Soufflé.
That gloriously thick chocolate, looking rich enough to buy enough carpets to cover a sultanate’s palace, just glooping in the bowl along with an oozing, sinful amount of butter; and that fluffy, sky-high cloud of whipped egg whites and sugar that looked so whimsical it just made us smile.
The two married together in a performance so practiced you’d have thought it was an act. The pale gold white and deep, dark chocolate danced and flirted with one another until they melded to become a whipped chocolate dream.
It was then that my father looked to me and said:
“Can you make that?”
As some of you know, I’m a bit of a performer in the kitchen. I stare at the pantry for a good twenty minutes, sniffing and tasting spices and mustards, and once I make a decision on what tastes go together, I throw it all in and jump around, fingers crossed, hoping it’ll come out alright, and it usually does.
Baking has never been my forte because it requires precise measurements that allow the scientific bubblings behind the ingredients to work.
So, when my father asked me to whip up a soufflé, I turned to our good friend: Google.
Clean baking and eating is something I absolutely advocate. However, it’s not always easy to find a clean version of certain baked goods because of the necessities of the exact ingredients.
Lo and behold! Thanks to the green movement of the 21st century, there were recipes to choose from that allowed me to make something naughty, but with ingredients that were nice.
No processed ingredients, flour, white sugar, no bad shtuff, thanks.
I adapted it to suit what I preferred and to what I had available to me in my pantry, but for the most part, it’s a pretty simple and easy recipe.
On paper, that is.
There were a couple of moments when I had my heart in my throat because it wasn’t going as planned, but I’ll point those out to you later in the recipe.
Speaking of which, let’s get to it...
Clean Paleo Chocolate Souffle. Serves 2 in medium ramekins.
Ingredients:
3 TBSPNs grassfed organic butter / ghee (substitute could be coconut oil, but haven’t tested that)
2 TBSPNs unsweetened raw cocoa powder
3OZ /89grams dark organic chocolate (I used a combo of 78% and 85%)
½ tspn vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
2 TBSPNs coconut sugar (can be granules or nectar, It works with both)
Pinch of salt
Pinch of baking powder (the original recipe called for cream of tartar, but I didn’t have any)
Method:
Preheat your oven to 190C (375F).
Butter your ramekins with a third (or however much needed) butter, then dust with cocoa powder, shaking out the excess.
Melt the chocolate and remaining butter in a bain Maire (glass bowl over simmering water in a pot, make sure NOT to allow the bowl to be immersed in the water, not even touching!!).
Once melted, add in the vanilla, and wait for it to cool slightly before adding in the egg yolks, one by one.
It was at this point that I added the egg yolks when the chocolate was still too hot, leaving me with chocolate seizing up and panic rushing through me. I almost gave up but seeing as I had no other chocolate to start over with, I let it cool and put it aside. I then used a few good scoops of the beaten egg whites to mix in and loosen up the chocolate. Thankfully, it worked like a charm and it became rich and pour-able again.
Set aside your chocolate mixture, and beat the egg whites, sugar, salt, and baking powder until firm peaks form.
Another mistake I made here was beating the egg whites too soon, and then having them stand on the counter during my chocolate panic, only to have them become watery and unusable. I just had to toss them out and start over with new egg whites.
Once your egg whites are whipped, fold in a third into the chocolate. Don’t worry about being too careful here, you’re just lightening up the chocolate mixture so that when you mix in the rest of the whites, the air won’t be knocked out of it from over mixing.
Then, fold in the rest of your egg whites into the chocolate to form a glorious, pillow-y chocolate fluff.
Carefully spoon the mixture into your ramekins, filling them about ¾ of the way up, and running your finger around the edge of the batter and ramekin so that they can rise straight up.
Bake for approximately 20 minutes. They will rise up in the oven and look glorious.
They will deflate when you take them out of the oven, so let the serving be done right away for a bit of a show-off, then enjoy them when they’re slightly cooled.
They will be light, fluffy, yet decadent. Very much like a fancy brownie.
For even more deliciousness, I suggest serving it with clean ice cream. Oohhh what a treat!
For clean, vegan, ice cream, all you need are:
Ingredients:
Peeled, sliced, frozen bananas,
Milk of any form (coconut, almond, rice..); just a splash.
Optional:
Cinnamon
Vanilla stevia or extract
Method:
Simply throw all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and scoop out to enjoy! It’ll have the consistency of soft serve ice cream.
Enjoy! Stay happy, stay smiling, stay hydrated.
