Chocolate Yogurt Souffles

One of my favorite souffle recipes to make is for my Yogurt ‘Cheesecake’ Souffles. It’s an easy to make souffle recipe where the base is thick, greek-style yogurt that gives the souffle a lot of body (and a cheesecake-like flavor) without a lot of work. It is also a great base for other souffle flavors, like these Chocolate Yogurt Souffles. Adding a little bit of cocoa powder to the mixture, along with a little extra sugar and honey for sweetness, turns these desserts into something a little more decadent.

These souffles have a great texture, both light and creamy. They don’t have an intense chocolate flavor, as some more traditional chocolate souffles do, but they certainly have enough to satisfy a chocolate craving – and they’re light enough that you can justify making them as often as you want. The base is made with yogurt, eggs, cocoa powder, honey and flour, with a little vanilla added for depth of flavor. Egg whites are beaten into a fully meringue with some sugar, then folded into the yogurt mixture. The mix is divided into ramekins and baked.

I use plain, Greek-style yogurt when making these souffles. The finished dish still has a slightly tangy, yogurty flavor to them, in addition to chocolate. If you don’t care for that tang of plain greek-style yogurt, a vanilla flavored yogurt will give you a slightly sweeter and slightly less tangy finished product and is also a good option. Greek-style yogurts definitely give you the best results with this recipe and you can use nonfat, full fat and everything in between.

To dress them up for a fancier dessert, I like to add a drizzle of chocolate fudge sauce (or ganache) before serving, but generally enjoy them as-is when I’m just indulging myself.

Chocolate Yogurt Souffles
1 cup plain greek-style yogurt
3 large egg yolks
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp honey
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large egg whites, room temperature
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tbsp sugar
butter and sugar, for ramekins

Preheat the oven to 375F.
Butter six 6-oz. ramekins. Pour a small amount of sugar into each and roll the ramekins to coat (just like flouring a pan). Set on a baking sheet.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together yogurt, egg yolks, flour, cocoa powder, honey, salt and vanilla extract.
In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually stream in sugar and continue beating on medium-high speed until all sugar has been incorporated and egg whites have reached soft peaks.
Working in two or three batches, gently fold egg whites in to the yogurt mixture. This can be done with a whisk or with a spatula. Make sure all egg whites have been fully incorporated.
Divide mixture evenly into ramekins, using about 1/2 cup in each and leaving ramekins on the baking tray.
Bake for 15-17 minutes, until evenly risen and lightly browned around the edges.
Serve immediately.

Makes 6.

Note: These can be baked in four 8-oz ramekins, but baking time will need to be increased by 5-10 minutes.