Greek Yoghurt Souffle... orange flavored.

Greek Yoghurt Souffle... orange flavored and cheesecake-like. Souffles. Light and airy. Pillowy soft. They are the perfect dessert that's sure to impress. Relatively easy to make, with lots of variations.... be it sweet or savory. But it's always the egg whites that give souffles the beautiful fluffy rise. And once you get the hang of folding the whites into the batter without it deflating, the souffles can actually be prepped and baked within a half hour. You can make a rich and decadent souffle, but you can also opt to make a lower fat version.

I've been wanting to make a yoghurt souffle for some time now. So the other day, when I noticed an almost empty container of Greek yoghurt in my fridge, I knew the time had finally come to try the recipe. Actually, I was hoping I would have enough yoghurt to make the full recipe... but it sure didn't look like I would. However, with a bit of scraping, I managed to just get a full cup:). And in no time at all,  I started whipping the egg whites. Interestingly enough, I didn't even have the egg whites at room temperature(oops!)... but it worked well enough. Ideally the warmer the egg whites, the fluffier they whip. 

I decided to add a bit of orange peel to upgrade the flavor a bit. Wanted that extra touch. But the yoghurt souffle was simply delicious! I have to tell you, it almost tasted like cheesecake... almost, though it's probably leaning more towards the Japanese cheesecake I posted some time ago... but without all the work involved:). The souffle is not heavy or overly sweet. I find it just right.

While you can serve the souffles with a simple dusting of icing sugar, you can make it a bit more elegant by adding a chocolate sauce, a raspberry coulis,  or a drizzle of honey with fresh fruits.  We tried one of the cooled souffles with a bit of raspberry sauce... and it was fantastic! Loved it. And what a simple dessert that can be made in a variety of ways.  

While the original recipe goes back to Alice Medrich's sour cream souffle, I like the the use of Greek yoghurt in this version. It's light and lower in calories, plus I always seem to have some yoghurt on hand. However, I would love to try the sour cream souffle as well and  play around with various additions such as adding chocolate chunks, berries, etc. Hope you enjoy....    

Note: Souffles normally tend to "fall" within 5- 10 minutes  of removal from oven... but they are still light and airy even after they've settled.

Tip: It is very important that you butter/sugar the ramekins very well. Any spots that are not buttered will make the souffle batter "catch" ... and this will hinder the souffle from rising to it's full potential.

You will need: inspired by Jules Food and originally adapted from Alice Medrich's Sour Cream Souffle

Combine:

1 cup Greek plain yogurt( I used Fage 0% fat)

3 large egg yolks, room temperature

3 TBS all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsps finely grated orange zest

Whip until foamy:

3 large egg whites, room temperature

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

Slowly add in and whip to soft/medium peaks:

1/4 cup sugar

Additional:

butter and sugar, for ramekins

icing sugar, chocolate sauce, fresh fruit, etc

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375F.
• Butter six 6-oz. ramekins and coat with sugar completely. You can use smaller ramekins, which is what I ended up doing with some.... you may need to adjust baking time.
• Set buttered and sugared ramekins on a baking sheet.

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together yogurt, egg yolks, flour, salt, vanilla extract and orange zest.

2. In a mixing bowl, add  egg whites with the cream of tartar. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy and almost to the soft peak. 

3. Gradually stream in the sugar and continue to beat until all sugar has incorporated and whites are at  a soft peak to medium peak stage.

4. Using a spatula add 1/3 of the egg whites to the egg yolk mixture. Gently fold so as not to deflate any air. Repeat 2 more times until all egg whites have been folded in and all egg whites have been fully incorporated.

5. Divide mixture evenly into ramekins, using about 1/2 cup  for the 6 oz ramekin, and less for smaller ramekins. Leave ramekins on the baking tray and place in oven.

6. Bake for about 15 minutes, until evenly risen and lightly browned.

7. Serve immediately. 

Note: You can also allow souffle to cool and serve it as  "cheesecake". Just remove from ramekin and place  on plate with a dusting of icing sugar... or with fresh fruit, chocolate sauce, raspberry coulis, etc.