I love the FoodNetwork and other cooking shows. I watched a new series called the Julia Childs Challenge, inspired by the icon. The contestants were required to make a soufflés and unfortunately many of them fell. I thought it would be fun to attempt the challenge ourselves. I can’t recall the last time I made one, it was probably in high school.

You might associate soufflés with your grandmother, I did. My grandmother made a spinach soufflé that she served when entertaining. The soufflé has become a dinosaur in current era of fast dining. The soufflé demands an investment of time from both chef and diner: it requires oven space, it requires a watchful eye, and, it cannot be made in advance.

A soufflé is basically an egg yolk base — crème patisserie — and beaten whites that have formed stiff peaks. This meringue is folded into the yolks gently, so as to keep the air in the mixture. It’s then transferred into a soufflé mold or individual ramekins and baked for 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the size. It’s the rise that’s enthralling

I found a recipe from Food and Wine for a double cream cheese soufflé. I was not familiar with the concept of double baking a soufflé, but it does mean that it could be made in advance, or even frozen and thawed before serving. But we plan to eat it same day, and after it came out of the oven decided not to double bake it.

The recipe was relatively easy. We had many of the ingredients but had to purchase some additional cheese – Parmigiana Reggiano and Comte cheese. The Comte cheese was new to us, it’s French and a relative to the Swiss Gruyère. It’s made in the southern part of France near Switzerland. They had it in abundance at the farmers market, so maybe it’s just new to us.

It starts off with a roux, made from butter, flour, and garlic. Then we added milk, then cheeses, salt and pepper, and finally yolks. I whipped the egg white into small peaks, folded them into the mixture, and poured into an 8 inch pan that was buttered and coated with Parmesan. The recipe required a decent amount of use of a Cuisinart. We decided against that knowing our history with blenders and food processors. Everything was still fine.

It cooked in the oven for 30 minutes, and we could’ve eaten it immediately after removing it from the oven. But had to still make the sauce and salad. The double baking required it to rest for 10 minutes, but while resting it deflated. Which is probably normal if you let it sit. That’s when we decided not to double bake it and just eat it as we were getting hungry. The Parmesan Comte cream sauce Over top. and served with a salad.

Would I make it again? Yes. It was relatively easy to make. It was tasty. I thought it required a stronger cheese flavor, but mom liked it the way it was. I’d probably try a new recipe the next time. Just do experiment with other flavors. But I’d recommend you try the soufflé challenge.