These beautiful soufflés are double baked and end up all cheesy and creamy and just divine!

Ingredients
500ml milk 
1 small onion (abut 120g) 
1 bay leaf 
Pinch of nutmeg 
60g butter 
60g flour 
1 tsp mustard (English or Dijon)  
4 eggs 
220g cheddar cheese (we like Tickler), finely grated 
200ml double cream 

Method
Roughly chop the onion and put into a small saucepan with the milk, bay leaf and nutmeg. Bring the milk up to the boil, turn off and put to one side to infuse.

Preheat your oven to 180c. 

Butter 9 ramekin dishes. 

Separate your egg yolks from the whites.  Top tip - I separate each egg individually over a small bowl and then transfer to larger bowls.  I do this so that should any of the egg yolks break into the white you only ruin 1 egg, not all 4. 

Make your roux by melting your butter in a saucepan, add your flour and cook for 1 minute constantly stirring with a wooden spoon.  Strain the milk into a jug and throw away the onion. Gradually add your milk, stirring constantly as you go, making sure you get into the corners and all over the bottom to stop it catching anywhere.  Once all of the milk is added bring to the boil, reduce the heat to medium (you do not want it bubbling) and cook for 5-10 minutes until thick and glossy.

Take the sauce off of the heat and add the mustard and ¾ of the cheese and stir until the cheese has all melted.  Taste for seasoning, adjusting where necessary. Add the egg yolks and thoroughly stir through, ensuring you get into the corners. Put to one side.

Whisk your egg whites to stiff peaks.  Now what you really need here is a dishing spoon as it is easier to cut and mix the egg whites in without losing the volume. Take one spoonful of the egg whites and thoroughly mix it through. This spoonful does not have to be carefully folded, this is just to slacken the mix a little and make the sauce more ready to receive the rest of the egg whites.  Once this is mixed in, add the rest of the egg whites and you want to do is carefully cut and fold them in.  So scrape the large spoon around the edge of the bowl and ‘cut’ through the middle. Quarter turn the bowl and do the same.  You want to incorporate the egg whites without knocking the air out as it keeps the soufflés light and fluffy and will ensure a rise so keep going with your scraping round the edge, cutting and turning until there are no large white lumps of egg whites remaining.

Boil a full kettle. 

Put a ladle full of the cheesy egg mix into each ramekin. 

Put the ramekins into a large oven dish and pour the freshly boiled water into the dish being very careful not to splash the soufflés or yourself.  Put into the oven for 15-20 minutes until risen. 

Remove from the oven and don’t worry when they deflate - the beauty of double baking them is that they puff back up with your second cook.  Very carefully take them out of the water but leave in the ramekins to cool.   

Take a ramekin, run your knife around the edge and then carefully ease them out, this will take some patience. I find the easiest way to get them out is to run my knife around the edge then holding the ramekin up at eye height, I carefully roll it on its side, rotating it so I can see if it is stuck anywhere.  Put into a large oven dish, you want the top of the soufflé to be at the bottom of the dish. 

Pour the cream all over the top and then finish with cheese. Bake for 15 minutes until risen and golden and bubbling.

Serve with a pear salad.

- Inspiration taken from this BBC Good Food recipe