(I'll start my diet tomorrow) chocolate souffle'

 I'm starting my diet  today, tomorrow because I just made the most insanely good chocolate souffle ever!!! All chocolately, warm, silky, cloudlike on the inside with just a slightly crispy top and a dusting of confectioner's sugar to make it the most perfect 8°-snowed-all-day-Sunday-schucky-I-need-chocolate- desert of all time! I found the recipe printed on the inside of a Ghirardelli chocolate bar wrapper and immediately started prepping my ingredients without a single thought to diet or New Year's resolutions. I'm pretty sure that unless my resolution is to bake more, (especially with chocolate) there is a very slim chance of me actually keeping one. Anyway, as it turns out, and should comes as no surprise, I am weak... but luckily there were three other people here to share it with, so I did not have to eat the entire souffle'!

 

Ghirardelli Chocolate Souffle

(from the inside of the wrapper)

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1 Tbsp. flour

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream or half & half

4 eggs, separated

1 1/2 bars (6 ounces) Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bars, melted

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

pinch of salt (optional)

pinch cream of tartar

2 tsp.(or more) confectioner's sugar for dusting souffle

Preheat oven to 375*. Grease a 1 1/2 quart ceramic souffle dish (or individual ramekins) and coat with 2 tablespoons of the  granulated sugar. 

In a medium-sized heavy saucepan, combine remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar and flour; mix well. Add the whipping cream then cook over medium heat until the sugar melts.

Beat egg yolks then gradually add the warm sugar-cream mixture to the egg yolks, stirring continuously..

Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and mix well. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Stir in the melted chocolate, vanilla extract and salt. Set aside to cool. 

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg whites until no streaks of white remain. 

Spoon the souffle into the prepared dish. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until puffed.

Dust with confectioner's sugar. Serve immediately (like you will be able to wait).

enjoy!