I'm a reasonable person. I feel like I can deal with stress in a calm and rational fashion. 

We recently had a new addition to the dessert menu at the restaurant. A souffle. I've never been a huge fan of souffles and after this past week, I seem to have reached my breaking point with them. 

From the outside, when you look at a souffle recipe, it is fairly simple. As long as you can stir things together and make a meringue, your good. Turns out, the recipe can get a bit more finicky than that. The other day, I made this recipe 3 times. First it was too dense. Then it was undercooked. The third time...well okay that was my fault, I got side tracked and burned them. After that I just wanted to cry and my sous chef decided to give it a whirl and there you have the picture perfect fluffy goodness above. 

Eventually I was able to get it together and figure out my problem, which was over cooking the base, and I got to feel like a useful human being again. There are always challenges like this in a restaurant that changes the menu seasonally. I had just never found myself with such an issue, but as my boss continually says to me when I mess things up, "I'm glade you messed that up, because now you know better!"

If you're brave enough....

Souffle

1/4 c. Butter

1/2 c. Sugar

3/4 c. Bread Flour

1 1/2 c. Milk

4 Yolks

6 Egg whites

2 T Corn Starch

1/4 c. Sugar

Prepare ramekins by brushing insides with melted butter and dusting with sugar.

Cream butter and sugar. Add bread flour and mix until resembles coarse corn meal. Heat milk on stove until just scolding and remove from heat. Pour in flour mixture and whisk until it becomes a loose paste. Stir in egg yolks. Set aside. 

Whip egg whites to soft peak. Sift starch and second sugar and fold into egg whites.

Fold whites into paste mixture, 1/3 at a time. Don't over mix this!

Fill ramekins to the top and us a knife or an offset spatula to smooth tops (this will help it rise evenly).

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, rotating half way through. 

They should be a nice golden color, but still spongy to the touch. 

Good Luck!