Everyone needs a sinfully easy dessert list. What would be on yours?
I was invited to a dinner party set for the day after I would return from a trip. When I offered to bring dessert my hosts
were okay with that. When I said it would be something super quick and easy,
they were okay with that too. I made
Bittersweet Chocolate Soufflés and EVERYONE was extremely okay with that! The
soufflés—always effortlessly impressive—were fantastic, even though the oven
was accidentally turned off during the first half of the baking. Talk about sinfully easy and forgiving!
The recipe is from my book, Bittersweet, but you’ll
find loads more sinfully easy desserts in a new book coming this May:
Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts: Quicker
Smarter Recipes by Alice Medrich.
Sinfully Easy is
loaded with recipes that don’t require baking and plenty of easy ideas for
dessert that—unlike the chocolate soufflé—actually sound like they are quick and easy. You’ll find fun things to do with vanilla ice cream or fresh
cheeses or strawberries; modern fruit desserts, new granitas, ice creams made
without an ice cream machine, creamy dreamy puddings etc. But you will also
find recipes— for soufflés and tarts and pies and even a torte or two— that you
might not expect in a book meant for cooks in a hurry, cooks with small
kitchens, beginners, or self proclaimed bake-ophobes, not to mention great
cooks who just don't like to make dessert!
I know I’m stubborn.
I am certain that if people knew how easy it is to make say, sour cream
Soufflés laced with chocolate, or a chocolate tweed torte, or a lemon or
blueberry tart, they would add it to their personal “Sinfully Easy” dessert
list along with all of the more obvious things. The recipes in Sinfully Easy are simple but clear and
complete enough so that anyone can be successful making them, and none require a rolling pin,
pastry brush, loads of counter
space, or a million steps. No
rocket science, just great desserts.
I revised and streamlined some favorite recipes too: Did you know that
you could make a classic Queen of Sheba Torte in one bowl without separating
the eggs? Did you know that you could mix a delicious plain vanilla butter
cake, or Fresh Ginger Gingerbread, or even an incredibly buttery spicy Linzer
Torte in a food processor? I
do and you can.
Sinfully Easy Delicious
Desserts comes out in May.
Meanwhile try the chocolate soufflés
that I made while jet lagged and add them to your sinfully easy dessert list.
BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE SOUFFLES
Adapted from Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate
Ingredients:
Butter
and sugar for the ramekins
8
ounces bittersweet 70% chocolate
1
tablespoon (.5 ounce) unsalted butter
1/3
cup milk
3
large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1
large egg white, at room temperature
1/8
teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3
cup (2.3 ounces) sugar
Lightly
sweetened whipped cream, whipped crème fraiche, or a combination
Special Equipment:
Seven
to eight 4-5 oz ramekins
If you are baking the soufflés right away, position a
rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Butter the
ramekins lightly but thoroughly and coat them with sugar (see tip).
Place
chocolate, butter, and milk in a large stainless steel bowl set in a wide
skillet of barely simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is melted and the
mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl
from the water bath and whisk in the egg yolks. (Don’t worry if the mixture
stiffens slightly or is less than perfectly smooth at this point). Set aside.
Beat
the egg whites and cream of tartar in a clean dry mixer bowl at medium speed
until soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted. Gradually sprinkle in the
sugar and continue to beat, at high speed, until egg whites are stiff but not
dry. Fold 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it and
then fold in the remaining egg whites.
Divide
the mixture evenly among the prepared ramekins, filling each 3/4 or more full.
(Soufflés may be prepared to this point, covered, and refrigerated up to two
days. Bake directly from the refrigerator)
Place the soufflés on a cookie sheet. Bake until they
rise and crack on top and a wooden skewer plunged into the center emerges
slightly moist and gooey, 14-16 minutes.
Remove from the oven, sieve a little powdered sugar over the top and
serve the soufflés immediately. Pass a bowl of whipped cream to top the
soufflés.
Serves 7 to 8.
Tip: The best way to sugar the cups is to butter all
of them first, then add a couple tablespoons (a handful) of sugar to one
ramekin. Shake and turn the ramekin sideways and then rotate it until
coated. Pour excess sugar into the
next cup, tapping it to dislodge loose sugar. Repeat with the remaining ramekins. Add more sugar if necessary.
