Cheese Souffle Recipe

How to make it

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• Preheat the oven to 400°F and butter the ramekins.
• Chop the cheese, including the rind, and put it in a food processor with the egg yolks, heavy cream, and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper.
• Work it until smooth, adding more cream if necessary until the mixture almost falls from the spoon.
• Transfer it to a bowl.
• Stiffly whisk the egg whites in a mixer or by hand, adding a pinch of salt to help stiffen them.
• If using a mixer, finish whisking them by hand.
• Stir about a quarter of the egg whites into the cheese mixture to lighten it.
• Add this mixture back into the remaining whites and fold them together as lightly as possible.
• Tip the soufflé mixture into the buttered ramekins and smooth the tops with a metal spatula.
• They should be completely full.
• Run your thumb around the inside edge of the dishes to detach the mixture from the rim so the soufflés rise straight.
• Set the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until very hot, puffed, and brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
• When shaken, they should wobble slightly.
• Do not overbake or the soufflés will be dry.
• Transfer them to cold plates lined with napkins and serve at once. The center of the soufflés should be slightly soft to provide a sauce for the firm outside.
• The cheese mixture can be made up to 2 hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. The whites must be whisked just before you assemble and bake the soufflé.