Disaronno Amaretto and Lime Soufflé

Apparently Miss Foodie doesn’t cook enough desserts, so as any good food blogger would have it, I have listened to my foodie friends and adventurously created my first ever soufflé for you all.

Not having attempted soufflé before I searched through my cookbooks for an easy to follow recipe. Featured in my French Classics Made Easy cookbook was a delightful Grand Marnier Soufflé recipe. Apparently the soufflé au Grand Marnier as it’s known is one of the most popular dessert soufflés in France.

Not having any Grand Marnier on hand, I opted to give mine a little Miss Foodie twist by using Disaronno Amaretto. Disaronno in fact was the first liqueur that I tasted and actually enjoyed. I was dining at South Ealing Tavern in England and a round of Disaronno Amaretto was purchased for the table. It was served on the rocks with a good squeeze of fresh lime. I was in love; the Italian liqueur had won me over.

For my first soufflé attempt I was honestly pretty stoked – it had doubled in size and it was light and fluffy on the palate. The lime and Disaronno Ameretto complemented the soufflé dreamily. Perhaps next time I could serve it with a fresh berry coulis or biscotti biscuit.

A few tips when making your own soufflé. Make sure you have a very clean glass bowl and beaters when whisking egg whites. Do not add any more liqueur than the recipe states, however tempting! Ensure your oven is set to baking mode and not fan forced. Don’t use Galliano Amaretto, treat yourself to the real stuff! Follow the oven cooking times correctly and whatever you do, don’t open the oven until it’s ready!

Disaronno Amaretto and Lime Soufflé

Ingredients

Butter and granulated sugar – required for soufflé mold
1 cup milk
3 egg yolks
¼ cup minus 2 tsp granulated sugar
3 tbsp plain flour
4 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Grated zest of 1 lime
¼ cup Disaronno Amaretto

Method

Preheat the oven to 240ºC with the oven rack in the lower third.

Butter and sugar soufflé molds. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Bring milk to a boil over medium heat.

While milk is heating, whisk the egg yolks and granulated sugar together in a small bowl. Add the flour and mix well, until smooth and free of lumps.

Thin the egg yolk mixture with approximately ¼ cup of the warm milk. When the remaining milk begins to boil, add it to the egg yolk mixture and stir well. Return the mixture to the saucepan and whisk rapidly over medium-high heat, making sure to whisk the bottom and sides of the pan until the mixture thickens and boils, about 1 minute.

Cook the pastry cream an additional 2 minutes over medium heat, whisking while it boils gently, until it becomes shiny and is easy to stir. Remove the pan from the heat and cover to keep warm.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.

Pour the pastry cream into a large bowl and stir in the vanilla, grated lime zest and Disaronno Amaretto.

Fold 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the pastry cream with a whisk to lighten it. Fold the remaining whites into the mixture and mix with a rubber spatula until it is smooth. Pour the soufflé batter into the prepared mould and level the surface with the spatula. Run your thumb around the top of the mould to clean off any excess batter. (The soufflé can be made ahead up to this point).

Bake the soufflé for 5 minutes. Lower the temperature to 220ºC and bake until the soufflé has risen 3-4 inches above the top of the mould and is golden brown in colour and springy to the touch, about 4-5 minutes.

Dust the soufflé with confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately.