Simple but delicous raspberry souffles

Where has the last week gone? I wish I knew. Summer seems to be sliding away from under me.

Anyhow, one of the glories of late summer is raspberries. If you go to the market at the end of the day you can sometimes find punnets of them for £1, or even less if you are lucky. Mine are usually just labelled as British, but I guess they may well be Scottish by now.

Raspberries do freeze well, though they never look as good once defrosted. These raspberry souffles can be made equally well with fruit that have been frozen.

These are the first sweet souffles I've ever made, though I've done savoury ones quite a few times. They were somewhat borne out of necessity, in that I didn't have many ingredients, or an opportunity to go to the shops, but I did have some eggs, sugar and raspberries. Which is pretty much all you need for this dessert. I was astonished by how well these turned out, especially considering how little time they took to make. It's also a good way of making a single punnet of raspberries stretch around four people. 

These quantities serve four elegantly, rather than generously - you're going to get a small souffle each. You could increase the quantities and use larger ramekins, or make one large souffle, but that's not nearly as pretty, which is a bit of a shame here.

I'd consider making these for a dinner party or similar. The drawback is that you can't make them in advance, but they take hardly any time at all. You could do the first stages in advance, stopping before beating the egg whites, then finish them off at the last minute.

Ingredients

2 eggs, separated
125g raspberries
Squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
50g caster sugar, plus more for dredging
1 tsp cornflour

Method 

Butter four small ramekins generously and coat the inside with caster sugar.

Crush the raspberries with a fork until you have a rough puree. Add the tablespoon of sugar and a squeeze of lemon, if you have any, followed by the cornflour and the egg yolks. Stir until well mixed.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry, then add the sugar and whisk until stiff again. Gently fold the raspberry mixture into the egg whites, keeping as much of the air as possible.

Pile the mixture into the ramekins. You want them about three-quarters full, which should result in them rising impressively over the tops of the dishes. Bake at 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 for about 15 minutes. They should be browned on top but still soft and mousse-like in the middle.

Serve immediately - they will start to sink within moments! Any leftovers can be reheated the next day - they will look rather sad and deflated but will still taste good. I made some simple raspberry sauce to pour into them, to make the leftovers a bit more exciting.