Daring Cooks: Chocolate Souffle

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 was so exited when I saw that Novembers challenge would be soufflés! I've always wanted to try making them, but just never got around to it. And I almost had to skip this month's challenge, but decided I would post late so I could take part. 
Making the soufflés was a lot easier then I expected it to be. They came together pretty quickly and there also wasn't as big as a mess as I thought there would be. Would I make them again? Yes, most definitely! I'd try a different kind though next time :)
I loved how light and fluffy they tasted. And the chocolate tasted so good (I used 86% Dark).
Sorry the pictures are terrible...I had to use my phone to take the pics as Martin has the camera as he is in China right now for work.

Chocolate Soufflé 
Serves 4

Ingredients

FOR THE DISHES

2 Tbsp (30 ml) 1 oz (30g) unsalted butter, for greasing
Cocoa powder or finely grated chocolate

FOR THE CREME PATISSERIE

2 tbsp (30 ml) (18 gm) (2/3 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2 tsp (10 gm) (0.35 oz) caster (superfine) sugar (regular sugar is OK)
½ tsp (4½ gm) (0.15 oz) corn starch (aka cornflour)
1 medium egg yolk
1 medium whole egg
4 Tbsp (60 ml) milk
5 Tbsp (75 ml) heavy cream (or double cream)
3 oz (90gm) good-quality dark chocolate preferably 70+% cocoa solids, broken in pieces
2 Tbsp (30 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
Optional: 2 tsp orange zest or 2 tsp minced chipotle chile en adobo or 1 tsp chipotle chile powder. (The chile version is a Monkeyshines favorite!) Optional: powdered sugar for dusting

FOR THE EGG WHITES

6 medium egg whites
6½ Tbsp (95 ml) 3 oz (90g) superfine/caster sugar (if you don’t have it, regular sugar is OK)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to moderate 375 ˚F/190 ˚C/gas mark 5.
2. Take four 1 cup/~240ml soufflé dishes and brush them completely with softened butter. Tip a little cocoa powder or grated chocolate into each dish, roll the dish around tilting it as you do so it is evenly lined all round.
3. For the crème patisserie, mix the flour, sugar and corn starch into a small bowl. Put egg yolk and whole egg into a medium sized bowl, beat lightly, then beat in half of the flour mixture to give a smooth paste. Tip in the rest of the flour mixture and cocoa powder and mix well.
4. To make the ganache, pour the milk and cream into a pan and bring just to the boil. Remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and beat until it is melted and smooth with no lumps.
5. Gradually stir hot chocolate ganache into the paste from step 3, and add the orange zest or chile if using. This is your crème patisserie.
6. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks with an electric whisk. Sprinkle in the sugar as you are mixing. Keep whisking to give stiff, firm peaks to give volume to the soufflés.
7. Stir about 2 tbsp (30 ml) of the beaten egg whites into the crème patisserie. Carefully fold in a third of the rest, cutting through the mixture. Fold in another third (take care not to lose the volume), then fold in the rest.
8. Spoon the mixture into the dishes. Run a spoon across the top of each dish so the mixture is completely flat. Take a little time to wipe any splashes off the outside of each dish, or they will burn on while cooking.
9. Bake the soufflés for 15-17 minutes.
10. The soufflés should have risen by about two thirds of their original height and jiggle when moved, but be set on top.

Daring Cooks: Apple Butter

"The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation."

I had tons of fun with this challenge. Not only was canning fun, but a bunch of our friends are also into canning right now so we made a bunch of stuff. First, Apple Butter, for the Daring Cook's Challenge. And then we made peach pepper jelly, spicy green beans, whole tomatoes and tomato sauce! And with apples coming into season soon I can see more canning in our future.

For the apple butter I used a recipe very similar recipe to the one that John of Eat4Fun suggested, with some minor changes. The apple butter turned out to be very spice tasting and very thick and spreadable. I loved the taste and it reminded me very much of Fall. We will definitely be using a lot of our apple butter this Fall and we are also hoping to cook some dinners using it as well.
I hope that some of you readers will also give canning a try (if you haven't already!) :)

Apple Butter
Makes 18 jars of various sizes
Found on RecipeTips.com

Ingredients:
4 pounds apples (Various kinds if possible)
2 cups sugar
1 cup apple cider
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1 lemon, juice and zest

Directions:
1. Peel, core, and cut up the apples.
2. Combine apples with cider, sugar, salt, spices and lemon. Cook over low heat stirring frequently until the apples are soft and and the mixture becomes very thick. (Test by scooping up a heaping spoonful. The mixture should keep its rounded shape and not flatten out.)
4. Use a hand blender to blend the mixture until smooth.

Canning the Apple Butter

1. Put jars and caps in the oven on a cookie sheet, open side up, at 200 degrees F until for at least 10 minutes (but longer is ok).
2. You need a pot that will let you add the jars with 1 inch or water above them (and a rack below to the jars are not on direct heat).
3. Take jars out of oven and fill with apple butter leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
4. Put the lids on a screw tight by hand (not too tighly as the air needs to escape in the water).
5. Add jars to pot of boling water. Bring the water back to the boil and time for 15 minutes.
6. Take jars out of water and let them cool down on a dish towel. If you hear the jars popping, that's good (they are sealing).
7. Check to see if all the lids have popped. If so you can now store your apple butter.
8. Make sure to check the lid before opening the apple butter. If it is bulging, or the apple butter has changed in colour, etc, then throw it out!

Daring Cooks': Pierogies

"The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale."

This was my first daring cooks' challenge and it was a challenge I really enjoyed! I made two types of pierogies: potato and mushroom and potato with sauerkraut, bacon, and cheese.
Though it was a lot of work, I would definitely make pierogies again. Not only did we enjoy our pierogies on the night that we made them, but we also froze a bunch of extra ones and have been enjoying them for quick dinners as well.

Next time I would mix the potato mixture more to make it more to make it more smooth. And I would also season the mixture more.

Out of the two, I preferred the Potato, sauerkraut, bacon and cheese one the best. It just seemed to have more flavours and a better balance of flavours; salty, sour, and creamy.
I sauted the pierogies with onions and bacon and served the them with sour cream. Delish!

Here is the recipes I used:
 
Dough


Ingredients:

2 to 2 1/2 cups (300 to 375 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 large egg
1 tsp salt
About 1 cup lukewarm water (I used about 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center.
2. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little lukewarm at a time.
3. Mix the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary.
4. Cover the dough with a towel. Let it rest 20 minutes.

Here is what I used for the fillings:

Potato, sauerkraut, bacon and cheese

Ingredients: 

3 big potatoes, cooked & mashed  
1 cup  cottage cheese, drained    
1 onion, diced & sauteed in butter until clear
6 slices of streaky bacon, diced and fried till crispy
1/4 cup sauerkraut, rinsed
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 egg yolk (from medium egg)
1 tbsp butter, melted    
1/4  tsp salt    

Potato and Mushroom 

Ingredients:
3 big potatoes, cooked & mashed
1 package of crimini mushrooms (225g), chopped
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 egg yolk (from medium egg)
1 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp salt



Directions:


1. Combine all the ingredients for the filling into a bowl and mix.
2. Cover and set aside in the fridge until you have to use it.

Assembly:

1. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly and cut with a round or glass. (I used my pasta machine to get the dough super thin! And the rolling went much quicker with a pasta machine!)
2. Spoon a teaspoon of the filling into the middle of each circle.
3. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together and use a fork to crimp the edges.
4. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.

Cooking:
1. Cook the fresh or frozen pierogies by adding them to boiling salted water and waiting until until they float and cook them for 5 minutes more after they started floating.
2. Then remove them with a slotted spoon and fry them in butter, onions and bacon.


I froze the extra pierogies without boiling them. They are cooked the same way as the fresh pierogies :) I will definitely be making more pierogies in the future!