Berry pretty raspberry soufflés

Fall is undoubtedly cookie-making month for me.  With cooler temps and more time at home now that we're back on the school schedule (more time for me, that is, but busier-than-ever for our high school freshman), I find myself whipping up batches of cookies on the regular.  It's a comforting routine - a mix of baking therapy and a way of expressing love and nurture in a small way.  So I'm all for cookies.  But that said, I try to mix in a little something different once in a while.  Cue the soufflés!

I've made soufflés a number of times but they're definitely not something I do on the regular.  In some ways, you have to hype yourself up a little bit and focus.  It's a little bit of magic and when the spell works, it's a great trick.

A few months back, I spotted a trio of beautiful soufflés on Erin McDowell's Instagram account.  You can see a photo and the recipe, here.  Is it any wonder I ran out and bought a bag of frozen raspberries right away to make sure I try it at home?

I do have this nagging thought that I should've went with the blueberry version to see if I could reproduce that gorgeous purple-blue hue, especially when I realize I'd made raspberry soufflés once before (albeit different), but pink and raspberry won out.  This raspberry soufflé recipe is different from the other I've tried in that it requires an extra step - pureeing the fruit and passing it through a sieve to remove the seeds so that you have a beautiful, smooth, bright red raspberry puree to infuse your soufflés with.  It results in the more even pink hue throughout the soufflé.  

That extra step of pureeing the fruit does take some time and patience but it was worth it.  And when the recipe works just as written, with the soufflés rising steadily and calmly (no tipping over), you feel such a thrill of success.  It's a great sight to behold but, alas, it is a very quick "high", as soufflés begin to deflate as soon as they come out of the oven.  But that's alright...sometimes you just have to life for the moment (and just hope there will be lots and lots of "moments").

Raspberry soufflé

I hope you had a good Mother's Day!  For us, this past weekend started with a deluge of rain all Saturday, but somehow, I had a feeling Mother's Day would turn out nice if history was any indication.  Sure enough, the sun was shining most of the day...what a nice gift for us moms.  

I spent Mother's Day morning relaxing and enjoying breakfast in bed.  It's become something of a tradition and a lovely treat.  I took my time enjoying it but then I got up and started the day because I realized a while back that if I spend too much time relaxing or doing nothing, it starts driving me crazy.  So I took some time savoring my breakfast, then I got up to do what I like to do best - you know cooking/baking was involved!

My husband bought me some delicious raspberries; I devoured a good chunk of it at breakfast but managed to save some for a few soufflés. I had spotted a pretty straightforward recipe from French Country Cooking that I've been wanting to try...I finally managed not to eat all the raspberries before getting a chance to use them in this recipe!  

I can now tell you I'm really happy I tried this recipe because it worked very nicely and the result tasted light, sweet, airy - everything good about a glorious soufflé!  And it wasn't difficult to make.  

In this recipe, you simply crush the raspberries and whisk them into the soufflé base. In other words, there's no pureeing raspberries, cooking them down with lemon juice, then straining the mixture in order to make a raspberry syrup to start with that you often see in other recipes.  In fairness, you won't end up with as even a pink hue as you would expect if you were to do that but I think it's a fair exchange for the ease here.  

While the raspberry soufflés were baking, the kitchen started smelling like cotton candy!  I loved how they rose steadily in the oven and didn't split and spill overboard like they sometimes do.  Of course, the very best part is that moment when you dig your spoon into the warm soufflé, and taste it...it's like a warm egg custard with a punch of sweet raspberry flavor.

I think soufflés are always a treat and this raspberry version (that's not at all complicated to make) was no exception.