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I know I haven’t posted in approximately forever, but I told a friend I’d give him the recipe I used for the super-tasty souffles I made for dinner tonight.

So.

Flourless Chocolate Souffles

• 7oz semisweet chocolate, chopped roughly
• 1/4 cup strong coffee
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 egg yolks
• 8 egg whites
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/4 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Butter eight 4-5oz ramekins and dust the insides with sugar.

Mix the chocolate and the coffee in a large metal or glass bowl over a small saucepan of hot water, stirring occasionally. When the chocolate has fully melted and the mixture is smooth, take it off the hot water and stir in the butter until smooth. Put the bowl aside and let it cool to room temperature.

When the chocolate mixture isn’t hot anymore, mix in the egg yolks. If you do this when the chocolate is still hot, you’ll cook the eggs and end up with a scrambled-egg souffle.

Whip the egg whites with the pinch of salt until they’re just starting to form peaks. Slowly add the sugar while mixing, and keep beating the eggs until they form soft peaks. You want the eggs to be firm enough that they won’t collapse under the weight of the chocolate, but not so hard that they turn into meringue or get brittle.

Stir about a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Combine until the mixture is fairly smooth, but don’t mix so much or so hard that you knock the air out.

Gently fold the rest of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture with a spatula.

Pour the mixture into the ramekins, filling them as close to the top as you can.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until the souffles have risen nicely and are cooked through except for the very center. When they’re done they should have a soft crust on top and won’t jiggle very much when shaken. You can also check doneness by gently lifting the top of one with a spoon to look at the center; it’ll seal back up when you drop it back. Note that it’s a lot easier to deal with ramekins arranged on a cookie sheet than individual nuclear-hot ramekins scattered around the oven.

When the souffles come out, sprinkle them with powdered sugar and cocoa and serve immediately.

In theory this serves eight, but Laura and I happily scarfed down a half-recipe with no problems. Since it’s being divided into individual ramekins, you can easily halve/quarter/double/etc the amounts to scale.

Like many of the chocolate things I make, this originally came from Chocolate, which is an absolutely wonderful book. Everything I’ve made from it has been delicious, and none of the recipes have failed. Also, the photography is excellent, making it near-perfect food porn.