A traditional, British dessert refined into a souffle...
Ingredients: 1/2 Vanilla Pod (Seeds Scraped Out)
200ml Full-Fat Milk
1 Egg
6 Egg Whites
95g Plain Flour
30g Butter
15g Cornflour
220g Caster Sugar
3 Cox Apples (Peeled, Cored & Diced)
1 Cinnamon Stick
Method:
1. For the crème patissière, put the milk and vanilla pod in a saucepan and slowly bring to the boil. Meanwhile, beat the egg in a large bowl and then, continuously whisking with a hand-held electric mixer, slowly add 35g caster sugar, then 20g of flour and, finally, 5g of cornflour. Once the milk has come to the boil, pour it onto the egg custard, mix and whisk. Transfer back to the pan and cook on a medium-high heat for 5-8 minutes or until thick. Pass it through a fine sieve.
2. To make the apple purée, slowly cook 2 of the apples, cinnamon and 50g of sugar together with 50ml of water in a saucepan for 5-10 minutes or until the apple turns to mush. Pass through a sieve, watering it down if it seems a little thick, and keep warm. Whisk together the apple purée and 40g of caster sugar in a saucepan and then simmer over a medium heat until reduced by half. Mix 10g of cornflour with a little water to form a paste and add to the purée. Increase the heat to high and cook the purée until it has thickened. Transfer to a food processor and blend, then strain and leave to cool.
3. For the crumble, preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Rub 75g of flour, 65g caster sugar and butter together in a bowl to form crumbs, then spread on a baking tray and cook in the oven, stirring every 5 minutes, for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven, leave to cool and then blend in a food processor. Increase the oven temperature to 180 degrees Celsius.
4. Make the meringue by whisking together the egg whites and 30g of caster sugar in a bowl to stiff peaks.
5. To make the soufflés, butter four 275ml moulds then quickly swirl sugar around the moulds so that it adheres to the butter. Mix 240g of the fruit reduction with 320g of the crème patissière. Then gently fold in half of the meringue mix, followed by the rest of the meringue. Add 1 tablespoon of the crumble and 1 tablespoon of the diced cox apples.
6. Spoon the mix into the moulds, sprinkle more crumble on top and cook in the oven for about 10 minutes or so until risen and golden. Serve the soufflés immediately, scattered with some more of the crumble.
