What’s Up Doc? Carrot Soufflé

Sorry I couldn’t’ help myself I had to go for the easy bunny reference.  Must be all the Looney Tunes my husband and son were watching last night.  It was cute the more big brother laughed the more the baby laughed.  Even with all the craziness in this working mom's day, those are the moments you have to just sit still and enjoy. 

Today we are making Carrot Soufflé.  We had our annual Thanksgiving pot luck at the office yesterday, and this is my go to dish for the fall.  Yeah sure it involves peeling and slicing 3 pounds of carrots and has ridiculous amounts of eggs and butter, but hey that's what are the holidays for. 

This is a recipe that I found in Southern Living in the late 90’s.  I lost it in a move once and spent an afternoon at the public library searching through 2 years of back issues to find it.  I think I made $2 worth of copies of it back then so I would never lose it again.  Here’s what you need.

Carrot Soufflé

3 pounds of carrots, peeled and sliced

6 eggs
1 ½ cups butter softened
1 cup flour
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. cinnamon

 Start by peeling and slicing 3 pounds of carrots.  Nothing compares to my pampered chef vegetable peeler for this, it is super sharp and definitely the right tool for the job.  I always thought that the two sides of the blade were made for left or right handed people, until I saw Rachel Ray peel carrots.  She kept the peeler in contact with the carrot and in a back and forth motion peeled the carrots twice as fast. Thanks Rachel Ray for the tip.  Also I don’t need a knife to cut the tops off, because the PC peeler is sharp enough the cut the green tops off with a few passes. 
 

Next I slice the carrots using the food processor.  Of course a knife would work but this is more fun.

I add these to a pot of salted water and cook them until they are tender.  I like to serve this dish straight from the oven, but often to save time I prepare and cook the carrots the night before then place them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. 

 

I cooked these the morning of, so when the carrots were tender I strained them and ran them under cold water to stop the cooking, cool them off, and keep from melting the butter.  After rinsing I placed them back into the cooking pot, I used an immersion blender so I tried to dirty as few pots and dishes as possible.   

 

If you don’t have an immersion blender use a potato masher, mixer or food processor.  I add the softened butter and use the immersion blender to process the carrots and butter until they are mixed. Be careful not to over mix.  I like mine to still have a little texture to the carrots.

I crack all my eggs in a separate bowl and beat with a fork. I mix the flour baking powder and cinnamon together in a small bowl. 

I add these to the carrots, and then mix with my favorite mega Mix n’ Scraper and pour into a buttered baking dish. 

Because our get together was pot luck I used an aluminum catering pan that I sprayed with Pam for Baking. 

Put this in a preheated 350° oven for 1 hour and serve immediately. This will come out a little loose, so don't be alarmed.  You may need to add additional time in the oven, look for slight browning on the outer edges. 

The original recipe in Southern Living called for 3 cups of sugar, but I began to back out the sugar until I reached an amount that gave it plenty of sweetness without overpowering the carrots’ flavor. I have used as little as 1 ½ cups of sugar before.  Try it and find what works for you.  Some people sprinkled this with powdered sugar for presentation, but I prefer it without.  I usually only make this at Thanksgiving and Easter, but I sometimes get request from the family to make it more often.  This recipe also cuts in half beautifully for Sunday dinners.  If you’ve never had it before be adventurous and give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.  Enjoy and remember to share it with a friend. 

Have a nice weekend and come back next week for a mommy’s corner, more baking and some holiday gift ideas.