Home › Recipes › Puddings Souffles

Puddings Souffles

It simplifies the making of puff puddings to remember that nearly all sorts of puddings that are made with eggs, and many of the pie mixtures, such as cream pies and cheesecakes and lemon and pumpkin and corn starch custards, can be changed into souffles by a very simple process which is the same with all kinds in the main, only slight differences having to be made according to the various mixtures used. Pudding souffles are of but little value for ordinary hotel dinners which run on for hours, because they must be sent to table the minute they are done, while still puffed up, otherwise, when they have fallen, they are not so good as common puddings. But for dinners on the European plan, for parties, for dinners in courses and for individual service--anywhere that there can be a set time for serving the pudding these light trifles are much esteemed.

What is required to be done is to take the mixture already prepared for a baked pudding or cream pie and stir it over the fire till it assumes a pasty consistency, then add to it some beaten yolks of eggs raw; after that the whites whipped firm and perhaps a little brandy. Then bake the finished mixture either in large moulds or pudding shapes, if for a party dining together, with a band of buttered paper pinned round to make the mould higher--to be removed before serving--or, in small cups, silver scallops or shells, to be served in individual style, or else in little paper cases made for the purpose. These little cases can be bought cheap, readymade in the cities. They need to be buttered and baked slightly before using, to harden them. Custard cups so used can be set in a pan of water while baking and need not be made hot enough to spoil them; these little puddings bake in 15 or 20 minutes.

The mixtures so treated puff up either hollow or very spongy, and must be carried to table in that condition. Smooth mixtures like bread puddings and corn starch or rice flour compounds puff more than rough-grained sorts, such as cocoanut creams or rice pudding. The pastry creams used for filling puffs, also lemon honey, pine apple conserve and the like, that are already cooked need only to have from 4 to 6 yolks added and then the whipped whites to make the richest possible souffles. Flavorings and brandy or wine are to be added according to taste.

With these general explanations covering the whole matter, only a few examples will be given here and there as we go along.