Food Lust People Love: Hot Lemon Curd Soufflés

Fluffy and light, these hot lemon curd soufflés are simple to make and bake, for a fresh dessert the whole family will love!

Time again for a few confessions. The first one is that I own and use an old lady pullcart. I got it for Christmas and I couldn’t have been happier. (See below for evidence!) And bless my daughters for giving it to me, despite their mortification when I use it! You know what I’m talking about, right?

It's the kind with wheels that old ladies use to do their shopping in the city when they are on foot. Trundling around ahead of you, in their scratchy cardigans, even in the summer, and impeding your passage when they stop to talk to other old ladies about the weather? That’s me, except I just have the cart, and mine is flowered, not plaid, and I tend to walk at a reasonable clip.

Happy camper on Christmas Day!

After all, and this is the second confession, I use mine to scoot between charity shops, looking for used cookbooks while I am visiting the Channel Island of Jersey. (Which happens as often as I can get there!) And if I get to the shops before you, I am going to buy ALL the good cookbooks. Which are very heavy. Which is where the cart comes in. It's a necessity, folks, as well as a fashion accessory. Among the treasures I found on a trip a number of years ago, was the whole How To Cook series, books One – Three, by Delia Smith for only £1 each. Score!

Which brings me to confession number three: I have a lot of cookbooks. When I get a new one, I go through it, carefully bookmarking all the recipes I want to try first. The problem is that I often get several new ones at a time, and I don’t get around to making all the things I want to make before yet another new cookbook arrives and the old bookmarks get sadly curly and mashed as the cookbook is put into the shelf and, while not exactly forgotten, it’s no longer on the front burner, so to speak. Can anybody relate?

This week I am delighted to join Sunday Supper, a fabulous group of bloggers dedicated to getting everyone around the family table once more. The current theme is all about trying something new, something that’s been on your bucket list but that you have yet to tackle. These Hot Lemon Curd Soufflés were bookmarked at least five years ago so they totally qualify! And now I am kicking myself for waiting so long. Because they were delicious. And so easy.

Ingredients
3 large eggs
1 medium lemon
1/4 cup or 50g golden caster sugar
Plus 2 1/2 teaspoons golden caster sugar (White sugar can be substituted for both.)
2/3 cup or 155ml room temperature lemon curd (Store-bought or half of this recipe here http://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/2013/01/quick-lemon-curd.html – eat the other half with a spoon!)
Butter for greasing your four ramekins

Optional for serving: a sprinkle of powdered or icing sugar

Method
Lightly butter your four ramekins and preheat your oven to 325°F or 170°C.
Separate your eggs and put the whites in a large clean, dry, grease-free bowl. Put your yolks in a medium-size bowl.

Grate your lemon zest and juice your lemon. Set aside. You will need two tablespoons of the juice. I used a zester for my lemon and the pieces were too big. You definitely want to use a small grater or Microplane, if you have one.

Using either an electric mixer or a balloon whisk, beat the whites until stiff peaks form. You’ll get much stiffer peaks with an electric mixer but mine is out of commission right now. I was surprised by how quickly I was able to get stiff peaks with just a balloon whisk so if that’s all you have, don’t be discouraged.

Now add the 2 1/2 teaspoons of sugar to the whites and beat again.

To the yolk bowl, add the grated lemon zest and two tablespoons of juice, along with the remaining sugar and mix them together thoroughly.

See that zest? Way too big. Another reminder to use a grater.

Fold a good spoonful of the fluffy whites into the yolk mixture to loosen it.

Add the yolk mixture to the whites and gently, very gently, fold it in so that as much air and fluffiness as possible remains.

Divide your lemon curd between the buttered ramekins.

Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet or baking pan. Spoon the mixture on top of the lemon curd and run your finger around the inside edge of each to clean it a little, if necessary.

Bake in your preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until the tops are golden. Allow the hot curd to cool for a few minutes, then sprinkle with a little powdered sugar, if desired. Place the whole hot ramekin on a small saucer to serve.