Welcome to my entry for Hay Hay It’s Donna Day, and the wonderful world of souffles!
Now, many of my fellow home-cooks will know what I’m talking about when I say that I have a golden list of foods to try and make before I die. Those beautiful dishes that you’ve seen on other blogs, ordered and devoured in restaurants, marveled over whilst browsing cookbooks - those things that we think are would be much too complicated to actually try, and so we put off any thought of trying them again and again and again.
From all my reading, I’d heard about souffles as these amazing, light-as-air dishes that were finicky as all heck and could deflate faster than a balloon rubbed the wrong way against a porcupine’s backside, and with that kind of reputation in mind, I think I could be forgiven for having dismissed them as something I’d think about making, albeit in quite a half-hearted manner.
So, I occasionally flipped through my cookbooks and gazed at their splendour on those glossy pages, and browsed the world of food blogs and drooled over the fluffy puffy creations of others with hardly a thought to trying these on my own…till now!
When the theme for Hay Hay it’s Donna Day #9 was announced over at Running With Tweezers, I felt a bit hesitant. Souffles? Finally, I had a good excuse to try making these (supposedly) temperamental dishes of delight…but could I? I, of the non-chewy caramels and grey blueberry panna cotta, could I pull this off?
After pondering this for a few days, today I rolled up my sleeves and thought “Aww heck, why not??” 
After trying my hand at these, I can report that these devilish little dishes aren’t as dastardly difficult as reported to be! (ooo, enough alliteration for ya? ;))
After I’d made the decision to take part, the hunt was on for the recipe that would announce my foray into the world of souffles. ‘My Vue‘ had an extremely long and complicated recipe with way too many steps for my sleepy Sunday afternoon self, and ‘The Cook’s Book’ had a wonderful recipe for a simple cheese souffle that I unfortunately did not have the ingredients for and with it being absolutely horrible weather today, I wasn’t about to venture forth to go grocery shopping! At this point I was starting to feel I little despondent and decided to take a break and start planning my meals for the coming week (as well as compiling a shopping list for the next day) and I pulled out a book that I had not yet cooked from - ‘Totally Simple Food‘ by Jill Dupleix. I’d purchased this book quite some time ago, but after the initial interest and much flipping through it endured, I’d put it towards the back of my cookbook shelf where it had started gathering dust.
One of my new year’s resolutions is that I shall not buy any more cookbooks till I have made good use of the ones already on my shelf, and so I pulled this book out of it’s little recess, dusted it off, coughed out a lung from the dust (heh!) and started to flip through.
And then I arrived at the ‘Sweets & Treats’ chapter - and saw a simple and concise recipe for passionfruit souffle that *gasp* I had all the ingredients for!
The source of my passionfruit goodness - this little bottle of pure passionfruit pulp (nothing added) will keep in the fridge for months and provide all the passionfruit juice you need!
Was this luck or fate? Either way, I abandoned my meals planner and shopping list and immediately raced off to the kitchen, the book clasped to my chest like a long-lost lover.
I pulled out the ingredients, then slowly started putting the souffle together, bit by bit. I followed Ms. Dupleix’s instructions to the letter, and as I progressed I couldn’t believe just how easy it was. Even up till the moment that I placed these in the oven to bake, I was gobsmacked at just how little work was involved!
They rose brilliantly in the oven, but started to deflate the moment that I pulled them out. The journey downwards was slow but steady, and the proud, tall souffles that had first left the oven soon started to look more lopsided than the leaning tower of Pisa.
Ah well, at least they had risen, right?
I took my photos, then settled down with a spoon to give my new creations a taste. Whilst quite delicious, they didn’t quite pack the passionfruit punch I’d desired, and the warm foamy texture just didn’t do much for my tastebuds. So, what to do? I polished one off, then decided to stick the rest in the freezer to see how they’d fare when ice-cold.
B-I-N-G-O!
If a lukewarm dissolve-y foam doesn’t do much for you, then try this recipe and as soon as it has left the oven pop it into the freezer for at least an hour. The result is something with texture halfway between mousse and custard, and the chilling makes them much more stable and stops them from completely deflating!
So, here’s my adapted recipe and entry for HHDH #9! Make sure you head over to Running With Tweezers on February 3rd to see the round-up and place your vote 
Frozen Passionfruit Souffle (adapted from ‘Totally Simple Foods’)
Ingredients
1 tbsp melted butter
90g caster sugar, plus 4 tsp
110ml passionfruit pulp (approx. 5 passionfruit)
3 eggs, seperated
2 egg whites
1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C.
2. Brush the melted butter inside 6 small ramekins, making sure it’s just a light layer and there are no pools of butter collected inside. Lightly dust each ramekin with 1 tsp caster sugar, tipping out the excess, and place them on a baking tray.
3. Strain the passionfruit pulp until you have 50mL juice. Save some seeds to decorate the tops, making sure to clean them of any membranes attached, and discard the rest.
4. In a large bowl, beat the 3 egg yolks with 50g caster sugar, till pale and smooth. Add the passionfruit juice and mix till well combined.
5. In another large, clean, dry bowl, whisk the 5 egg whites till foamy, then add gradually add 20g caster sugar and beat till mixture begins to thicken. Add remaining 20g caster sugar and whisk till soft peaks form.
6. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the yolk mixture with a rubber spatula, making sure not to overwork the mixture, then slowly and gently fold in the rest till just combined.
7. Fill the dishes to the brim and either leave the surface lumpy and mountainous, or smooth till level with the top of the ramekin. Add a few passionfruit seeds for decoration, then bake just below the middle rack of your oven for 10 minutes, or till they have beautifully puffed and the tops are dark golden in colour. DO NOT, under any circumstance, open the oven door until they have completed baking. This will apparently kill them…and really, do you want to find out if that’s the truth?
8. Immediately remove from the oven and place in your freezer for at least 1 hour, and remove just before serving with a little whipped cream
Mmm, the top is deliciously caramelized whilst the underside is unbelievably soft and fluffy!
Technorati Tags: HHDD, Donna hay, souffle, recipe, passionfruit, desserts
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Comments
Sounds lovely. I’m scared to make a souffle as well. BTW, your photos are just getting better and better! These are really great.
You never seen passionfruit in a jar like that over here, it’s just not fair! Your souffles look amazing, I love how you did the tops!
Lovely photos! The first one is just perfect. And I absolutely love the recipe. I don’t get much ability to play with passionfruit but I love the flavor! I am going to have to try this when they get into season here.
Wow! these souffles look and sound beautiful. I have never tried making souffles, but you have inspired me!
They look wonderful, Ellie. Yay for you!! Souffles frighten the heck out of me, maybe they are something you have to work your way up to.(?)
Ellie,
You have the souffle power, my friend!!
They’re so tall and beautiful, yummy!!
I love passion fruit and we use it a lot here for juice and also for desserts. I have to say it’s an excellent choice.
About Jill’s book, I’ve used a lot already and I like it very much! I hope you start cooking from it, too.
Ellie, these look fantastic! I know what you mean about feeling hesitant on the souffle front… but yours turned out terrific - great entry!
I already told you how much I like your souffles, but now I have to thank you for the freezer tip. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it, I love frozen things and now frozen souffle has been added to that list.
I love the bake and freeze method, how smart! I love passion fruit but we only get once a year if lucky so I buy a case and scoop them out and freeze the pulp. Delicious!
I am bookmarking your recipe!
Tanna – Cheers hon And this wacky idea certainly paid off – the family wasn’t too excited about the soufflés, but after they’d been frozen they were completely devoured! They’re definitely good to eat…so long as you don’t think about the calories that you’re inhaling 
Rachel – I don’t know where the scary reputation comes from, but you should definitely give them a try as they’re so much easier than you’d imagine!
Kalyn – Thanks hon Give this recipe a try – you’ll find out that there’s actually very little to be scared of!
Brilynn – Hehehe, cheers darling! And I’m glad you liked the frozen results 
Kitarra – Cheers If you can’t get access to passionfruit, because it’s ultimately just a flavouring liquid you should be able to replace it with perhaps some other fruit juice or puree…I’m thinking that a blackberry puree might work nicely
Kat – Thanks darlin I hope you do give them a try, I’d love to see your little creations
Mandi – Thanks hon! Perhaps so, but this recipe is almost deceptively easy So long as you know how to be careful when folding the two mixtures together, it should really be a piece of cake!
Ivonne – Thank you
Patricia – Woohoo! Do I get a superhero cape with ‘souffle woman’ on the back? After this success, I plan on using Jill’s book a lot more
Jules – Cheers hon
Mooncrazy – I’d suggest any other strongly flavoured fruit juice or puree. Perhaps grapefruit, orange or lemon if you’re into citrus, or maybe a berry puree (making sure to strain out any lumpy bits!)
Iling – LOL! Best comment ever
Foodfreak – Awww shucks, thanks hon And the passionfruit pulp in a bottle is definitely a nifty thing to have in the fridge
Gilly – Thanks a mill doll
Helen – Aww, thanks hon I hope you blog it if you give it a try, I’d love to see how yours turned out!
Your souffles look wonderful - brilliant idea of freezing them, I look forward to trying that!
Morven, my first BBM partner sent me a jar of passionfruit syrup.. now you’ve given me an idea on how to use it
xoxo
wow! now they look fab! tilly! astic!
I’m a tad nervous myself, will try my luck this afternoon however.
I would never have thought to put a souffle in the freezer - what a great idea! I’ll have to try this some time
Lis - Cheers hon And I think this would be an awesome way of using that passionfruit syrup
Gerda - Aww shucks! Thanks for the compliment dear
Bron - I have faith in you! If I can make these suckers, then you should most definitely be able to
Y - Hope you like the frozen results as much as we did
Mae - Cheers darlin And I know all about the problem of quick fingers, believe me
Peabody - Thanks hon!
Great idea Ellie. I’d never have thought to put them in the freezer. Thanks for participating in HHDD#9
Barbara - my pleasure! It was a great theme, and gave me the chance to try something that I may otherwise never have attempted!
well done, Ellie, on these fluffy looking souffles!
Where did you pick up that jar of passionfruit from? i would love to get some.
Cin - cheers hon The passionfruit was just gotten from the fruit section in my local Coles, you should be able to get some at the Coles on Elizabeth St!
I had the same cookbook resolution as you, but I already ordered a few more! I used Christmas gift certificates though, so does that count?
I too was surprised at how simple it is to make a souffle. Your came out delicious looking! I bet they tasted good too. The seeds on the top add such a nice touch.
I love the flat tops vs the curly tops souffles you’ve got there! I was definitely nervous about making them…but am now looking forward to more ways to dish them out…your frozen souffle idea sounds good
You really are rocking with this one. I love how sometimes the wacky (put it in the freezer) ideas pay off big time.
I also put off souffles for years and was awe struck when I finally tried and found out how simple something I’ve agonized and put off can turn out to be. AND how wonderfully good to eat.
Hooray!!