You know how it is…the first time you make a new recipe you follow it to the T. After tasting it, you begin thinking about ways to make it better. That’s what we’ll be doing for the next few months…trying to improve the original recipes used or find new ones that are more pleasing to the palate. Back in March we made Chocolate Souffles, and while we both liked the overall souffle, the chocolate was way too intense. So this month for the redo, Eric went savory, with a classic cheese souffle, https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/classic-cheese-souffl . While I stayed sweet with vanilla, https://www.thespruceeats.com/vanilla-souffle-recipe-1375119 There is a mistake in this recipe which I will point out when we get there.
“It’s really good. I like it more than the chocolate”, is what Eric said about the cheese souffle. Also, he added rosemary and garlic salt to the recipe. Sounds yummy, but not very descriptive so I’ll use my imagination and say it was like a fluffy cloud, light as air, melting on my tongue with a slight tang from the cheese followed by a little crunch as I bit into the crust. How’s that?
Before … 
and after folding in egg whites.
I made vanilla because I love vanilla desserts. I also made a few changes, starting with the half a vanilla bean I found drying out in it’s spice jar. At $15, I couldn’t just let it die a quiet death, so I added it to the milk (almond, because that’s what I had) as it simmered. Next, I took the bean out, split it and added the seeds back to the milk before the tempering process, which is step 3 under the “making the souffle” section. Step two in this section is where I believe the mistake lies: I added the 4 yolks in this step even though it doesn’t say that. My reason? If there weren’t any yolks, there wouldn’t be any need to temper the batter before combining with the hot milk.
Cheese ready for the oven. 
Vanilla ready for oven…looks like anemic pudding.
The results? Taste was there, it was light and fluffy and wonderfully vanilla, but I think I under cooked it a tad which resulted in an unstable souffle. Of course dropping it the last two inches from my oven mitten clad hands onto the table didn’t help either. It immediately started to deflate as I threw my mittens in the air and scrambled for my camera, took a picture and took a scoop out to taste before it became a pancake. Later that night it was down from 5 inches to 1 and I had to laugh, it was such a sorry sight.
And here is the Cheese…. 
all fluffy and yummy looking!
Lovely vanilla crater. 
Don’tcha think? 😉
Souffles are always touted as one of the hardest things to pull off and the reason is because of what happened to my vanilla masterpiece. They can be very unstable. But Eric didn’t have an issue with the cheese one and neither of us had an issue with the chocolate, so I think the key is just finding a reliable recipe, making sure it’s cooked……and not dropping it on the table. See ya next month for another redo!