Recipe 4: Souffle a l'Orange

I've procrastinated enough and decide to just post the recipe that I've been thinking of, even though I haven't had to time to make it. Thus, there will be no pictures until I can find time...

My passion is definitely baking. In all my years of baking muffins, breads, pies, cakes, cookies, etc....I've never attempted a souffle. I don't know if it's the looming fear of a 'fall' or maybe it just doesn't sound like it would be my favorite dessert. Nonetheless, I've decided that it would be best to try it in the company of friends. I ventured through my french cookbooks and decided to wage my bets on Julia - Mastering the Art of French Cooking volume I. For some reason, the orange souffle caught my attention. Citrus is prime now and thoughts of a warm creamsicle crossed my mind when I thought of making a simple creme anglaise sauce to go with the souffle. I also thought a nice dark chocolate sauce would be nice. They also recommend adding almonds or a liquor like cointreau or grand marnier.

Oven to 400.

Preparing the souffle mold:
1/2 T softened butter
Granulated suger
6 cup mold preferable about 3 1/2 inches deep ( I think mini souffles would be nice in ramekins)

1. Butter the entire surface of the mold.
2. Add sugar to coat the interior surface.

The Bouilli sauce base:
1 orange
2 large sugar lumps
3 T sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar + 1 T
5 eggs (separated)
2 T softened butter
2 t vanilla
3-4 T of orange liquor

1. Rub sugar lumps over the orange to extract the oil. Mash the sugar lumps and zest the orange.
2. Beat the flour with some of the milk until well blended with wire whip. Beat in the rest of the milk and 1/3 cup of sugar. Beat in rest of the milk and the sugar. Stir over moderately high heat until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Boil, stirring, for 30 seconds. Sauce will be thick. Remove from heat and beat for 2 minutes to cool slightly.
3. Seperate the eggs and add yolks into center of the sauce one at a time. Beat a total of 4 yolks into the sauce. Reserve the whites to be whipped later.
4. Beat in half of the butter. Dot the top of the sauce with the rest of the butter to prevent a skin from forming on the surface.
5. Beat 5 eggwhites and salt together to form soft peaks. Sprinkle with the 1 T of sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.
6. Beat the vanilla and liquor into the saucebase. Stir in 1/4 of the beaten eggwhites. Delicately fold in the rest.
7. Turn the souffle mixture into the prepared mold, leaving a little over an inch at the top of the mold.
8. Place the souffle in the middle of the preheated oven and immediately turn down to 375. In 20 minutes, when the souffle has begun to puff and brown, quickly sprinkle the top with powdered sugar. After a total of 30-35 minutes of baking, the top of the souffle should be nicely browned and a tester inserted in the side of the puff should come out clean.
9. Serve immediately!

Bon Apetit! Let me know how your experience goes. I will try to make mine early in the week and edit this to post some pics.

Results: I prepared the orange souffle tonight and had it with a cream anglaise sauce. The souffle didn't really rise above the rim of my pan like I expected...it must've been too big of a pan for the batter. It puffed up and browned nicely though. It did fall once I started cutting into it to serve. I think some people would get hung up on the texture of a souffle - but I thought the results were very tasty.