Holiday Souffle Is Quick, Easy, Elegant Dessert

Talk quick and easy cooking and the mind doesn’t exactly eye a souffle. Too bad, it could.

You are just too busy this time of year, even if you do think a high-rise dessert is exactly what holiday guests would like to finish off dinner at your house. Too bad, you could do it.

Even when I have the tree to trim, gifts to wrap, kids to talk to, cookies to bake and company coming, my mind doesn’t mind eyeing the idea of serving individual Chocolate-Espresso Souffles for dessert. I know, I’ve done it.

I’ve baked them for Christmas, for New Year’s Eve, for Tuesday’s dinner, for important guests, for children, for big people and just for me. It’s that simple and delicious.

The secret is, because these souffles don’t depend on fragile stiffly beaten egg whites for success, they can be mixed several hours ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to bake.

Each souffle gets a light dusting of sweetened instant espresso powder as soon as it comes from the oven. If you’ve a mind to bake them before the holiday season ends, you might want to perch a holly leaf atop or alongside each souffle to add a seasonal touch.

You could say the recipe is a piece of cake if it weren’t a souffle.

CHOCOLATE-ESPRESSO SOUFFLES

1/3 cup espresso coffee

6 ounces semisweet chocolate

5 eggs

1/2 cup whipping cream

8 ounces cream cheese, cubed

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

Combine espresso and chocolate in small saucepan and place over low heat until chocolate is melted, stirring to blend. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Combine eggs and cream in food processor or blender and process to mix. With machine running, slowly pour in cooled chocolate mixture. Add cream cheese, few cubes at time and process until smooth. Pour into 6 buttered and sugared 6-ounce souffle cups. (At this point, souffles can be covered and refrigerated up to several hours.)

Bake on center shelf of oven at 350 degrees about 20 minutes or until edges are set but centers are still slightly soft. (If souffles were refrigerated, bake additional 5 minutes.)

Meanwhile, combine powdered sugar and espresso powder. As soon as souffles are done, remove from oven, place each on individual dessert plate and shake some sugar-espresso mixture through sieve on top of each souffle. Serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.