Shhhh... My Souffles Have a Secret...

First of all, a giant thank you to MaryE of Apron Strings and Simmering Things, who graced this blog with an E for Excellent award!

MaryE, I am so honored and delighted. Even better, I get to pass the award on to 5 fellow bloggers! (I seem to be sending all sorts of things out across the blogging world lately...) For maximum suspense (and because I confess I'm having an incredibly hard time picking just five), the five will be revealed in my next post... (drum roll please...)

MaryE's award also happens to be the first award bestowed upon this blog - how exciting! It seems the occasion calls for something fabulous, no?

It seems the occasion calls for chocolate souffles...

Except first I have to divulge the secret of these souffles. (If souffles could talk, they would be wiggling around in their little dishes right now, and whispering "shhhh, don't tell!) These are healthy souffles: low fat, a good source of calcium, made with antioxident-rich cocoa powder that could also easily be adapted for a carob powder version, and only 180 calories per ample, luxiourious serving. Sounds impossible, right? I mean surely, these can't be any good, can they? (In fact, by now, they probably even sound a little bit gross...)

Well, the recipe that inspired this final, it's-actually-not-impossible and these-are-crazy-amazing-oh-my-gosh-I-can't-believe-
how-good-this-tastes recipe, did indeed sound, well, not so delicious. They had all the same health claims, but I took one look at the recipe, squinted suspiciously, and said "hmm, this will probably result in a burnt, bitter mess..." Then, purely out of morbid curiosity, I did follow the recipe, and lo and behold, soon had a burnt, bitter mess sitting on our counter-top. (Hey, for some people morbid curiosity entails looking at vaguely inappropriate pictures - for me it's trying the occasional dubious recipe...) By then, though, the idea had captured my imagination - why couldn't one create a souffle indistinguishable from it's egg-yolk, butter, and saturated fat filled, and absolutely delicious, counterpart?

Why not, indeed? Last night, I placed these souffles in front of our dinner guests with some trepidation... and watched with amazement as they ooohed, ahhed, got very quiet, made mmmm noises, scraped their dishes clean,

and then fussed about how they should feel guilty but they didn't because that just tasted so good...

I almost told them they didn't have to feel guilty at all, I almost told them these souffles were actually good for them, but I didn't. In that brief, transcendent moment of chocolate ecstasy, why worry about details?

Secretly Light Chocolate Soufflés

1/2 cup cocoa powder
6 T hot water
1 T butter
1 T canola oil
3 T flour
1 rounded T peanut butter (either chunky or smooth, depending on whether you want a wee bit of texture, or want to keep your soufflés completely smooth)
6 T raw sugar, divided
2 T honey
1/8 T salt
¾ cup reduced fat milk
4 egg whites

~ Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat 4 individual (10 oz) soufflé dishes with cooking spray.
~ Stir together the cocoa powder and hot water to make a smooth paste, then set the paste aside to cool.
~ Place the butter, canola oil, and peanut butter in a small saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until the butter is melted. Remove the pan from the heat, and continue stirring until the peanut butter has finished incorporating and all three ingredients are well combined.
~ Add the flour, return the pan to the heat, and stir constantly for one minute.
~ Remove the pan from the heat again, and stir in 3 T of the raw sugar and the 2 T honey. (All this business of taking the pan on and off of the heat is necessary just so your mixture doesn’t burn… It’s really not quite as annoying as it sounds, I promise! :-)
~ Return the pan to the heat, and gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. Cook, with lots of stirring, until the mixture is thickened – this will take around 3 minutes.
~ Remove the pan from the heat one last time, stir in the cocoa mixture, and set aside to cool slightly.
~ With an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the remaining 3 T raw sugar 1 T at a time while continuing to beat on high speed, until stiff peaks form.
~ Gently fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the cocoa mixture. Pour the resulting, now slightly fluffy cocoa mixture into the remaining egg whites, and fold in gently until just combined.
~ Spoon the batter into the soufflé dishes, and bake for 15 minutes – until the soufflés have puffed up and are set in the center. Serve warm, after they rest for 10 minutes, or cold, after they’ve cooled all the way – just make sure they’re topped with whipped cream! :-)