Apricot Souffle - Pink Saturday

Spring is finally here! Have a wonderful weekend.

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I made a quantity of apricot jam this week, and, when you have a lots of it on hand, it becomes imperative to find ways in which to use it. This simple recipe is at the top of my list. It was developed by Alice Waters 40 years ago and it is as good today as it was them. Now, I'm perfectly willing to admit that only a fool would try to capture the airy quality of a souffle with a point and shoot camera, but I'm a very slow learner, so I proceeded anyway. I did some advance planning and today's pictures represent my best effort to date. Plans and good intentions aside, my souffle began to deflate as soon as it was taken from the oven and, even moving on the wings of eagles, mine had lost an inch of its height before I could snap its picture. I hope you'll trust me when I tell you that this is a luscious dessert. It may only be gorgeous for a minute, but the wonderful flavor of the souffle saves the day, and only your pride will be hurt should you decide to try it. It is important to use a really good apricot jam when you make this. The recipe is basically jam and beaten egg whites and when so few ingredients are used it's really important to use the best you can find. I hope you try this. It's not hard to do and the result, while a bit homely, is delicious. Here's the recipe.

Apricot Souffle...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Alice Waters

Ingredients:
1/2 cup strained good quality apricot jam
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon amaretto, kirsch, or orange liqueur
6 egg whites
Finely chopped almonds
8 ramekins with 1/2 cup capacity each, or a 1 quart souffle dish

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 400 F. Butter and and coat a 1-quart souffle dish or 8 (1/2-cup) ramekins with sugar. Set aside.
2) Combine jam with egg yolks and liqueur in a large bowl. If jam is very thick, pour it into a saucepan and gently warm it until it melts. Cool slightly, then stir in egg yolks and liqueur.
3) Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.
4) Working in three parts, gently fold egg whites into jam/yolk base.
5) Pour mixture into prepared dish(es). For best visual effect, fill dish(es) all the way to the top. Sprinkle top with almonds.
6) Place ramekins or souffle dish into oven, or place on a baking sheet to catch drips.
7) Reduce oven temperature to 375 F. For a large dish, bake for 20-25 minutes (until risen and golden on top). For the small ramekins, bake for 10-12 minutes (until risen and golden on top). Yield: 8 servings.

You might also like these recipes:
Cold Lime Souffle - One Perfect Bite
Cranberry Souffle - One Perfect Bite
Crock-Pot Dried Apricot Jam - One Perfect Bite

This post is being linked to:
Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.