Lemon Soufflé – The Incredible Theft
A lovely light dessert, given a retro twist by serving it in the lemons.
Ingredients
Scale
- 8 medium-sized lemons
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 2 Tbsp icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Line an oven tray with baking paper.
- Trim the base of the lemon so they sit flat. Cut off the top third of each lemon and, using a teaspoon, remove the pulp from the lemons (this takes a while) over a bowl lined with a sieve.
- Squeeze the juice from the pulp and reserve. Discard the pulp.
- Place the lemon shells on the prepared tray.
- Preheat your oven to 180C
- Combine the yolks, half the sugar, 1/4 cup of lemon juice and the flour in a heatproof bowl. Beat until thick and pale.
- Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and beat for another 8-10 minutes until the mixture is the thickness of a thick custard. Remove from the heat but continue to beat until the mixture is cool – about another 2-3 minutes.
- Beat the egg whites to soft peaks, add the remaining salt and the remaining sugar and beat until the mixture is thick and glossy.
- Whisk one-third of the egg white mixture into the yolk mixture. Fold the egg white mixture into the yolk mixture with a large metal spoon. Be as gentle as you can here. You want to preserve as much of the lightness and air from the whipped whites as possible.
- Spoon the mixture into the lemon shells, filling to the rims.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until the soufflés have risen 2-3 centimetres above the rim of the lemons and are golden.
- Transfer to serving plates, dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
Notes
- Leftover lemon juice can be frozen into ice cube trays to use as you need.
- Or seeing as life has given you lemons, make lemonade!
- If you accidentally poke your spoon through the bottom of the lemon as you are removing the pulp, never mind. Wrap the base of the lemon tightly in aluminium foil for cooking and remove it for serving. This will prevent any souffle mixture oozing out the bottom!