We stopped in at Dinstuhl's here in Memphis this Saturday on a lark to try to be among the first to ogle the first batch of Easter candy. Anything that has to do with the onset of springtime works for us right now. (Shelves have been cleared to make room for the Easter candy, it's on it's way and all very exciting, y'all...)
So during our trip, instead of eggs and chicks and rabbits, we bought black licorice laces and chocolate-covered pretzels and reminisced about what we chose from the store practically every week when we were kids; it was about the same as what we selected at present. (Okay, we admit it, marzipan fruit and rock candy were brief under-age-ten Dinstuhl's phases, but other than that, things have not changed a bit.)
One thing we came agree on candy-wise later in life as adults was their candied orange slices dipped in dark chocolate. Spotting those in the lower corner of the huge glass case, sort of hidden away amongst the truffles, brought us back to our nostalgic candy shop trips years ago in our early twenties. Remembering how great that orange and chocolate combo was back then inspired this chocolate-orange soufflé.
Bourbon + Orange + Chocolate Soufflé
(Makes four small soufflés.)
Special equipment: four one-inch by five-inch ramekins
5 eggs (separated, one yolk discarded)
1/4 cup sugar
1 bar 70% chocolate (3.5 ounces, chopped)
1 tablespoon bourbon
zest from 1 organic orange (about one tablespoon)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup half and half
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 orange (peeled, cut into segments)
1 teaspoon powdered sugar to garnish
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Fill a medium saucepan up halfway with water and place over high heat. Place the five egg yolks into a medium-sized metal bowl along with the sugar, chopped chocolate, bourbon, orange zest, vanilla, sea salt, and half and half. Once the water in the saucepan begins to boil, place bowl with the yolk and chocolate mixture over the water so that the bowl doesn't touch the water. Whisk until all of the chocolate has melted. Remove bowl from heat, and set it aside to cool.
Place the cold egg whites in another medium bowl along with the cream of tartar. Whisk vigorously with a clean whisk for four to five minutes or until the whites form soft peaks. (Soft peaks means that you pick some of the whites up with the end of the whisk, and it forms a peak that folds over. It looks kind of like a Santa hat!)
Take half of the whisked egg whites and add them to the cooled chocolate mixture. Mix that thoroughly with a whisk. Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold the remaining whites into the mixture retaining as much of the fluffiness as possible. Divide the mixture between the four shallow ramekins. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the top is craggy. Garnish with powdered sugar and orange segments.
