I haven’t made a souffle in a really long time.

Contrary to popular belief, souffles are actually pretty easy to make. You just need to follow a few rules—and not breakdance in the kitchen when they’re in the oven. (One of my souffles did flop on me, but it was totally my fault. Read on and you’ll see why.)

This particular souffle recipe comes from the good folks at Fine Cooking magazine, and features orange marmalade—one of my favorite substances on the planet. (I swear I don’t eat it straight out of the jar. Most of the time.)

These souffles get a triple dose of citrus flavor from a syrupy mixture of marmalade, orange liqueur, and lemon juice.

The tops bake into beautiful, almost-chewy meringues that are rimmed with little bits of crunchy sugar. The insides are soft, airy orange-scented bliss shot through with bits of candylike rind.

An added bonus? This recipe qualifies as gluten free.

Souffle ingredients

Now, this recipe only has a handful of ingredients. Sugar. Marmalade, of course. I like Bonne Maman brand, but use any kind you like. Orange liqueur. (I used Triple Sec, but Cointreau would be good, too.)

Lemon juice. Egg whites. Cream of tartar.

What is cream of tartar?

Cream of tartar is most often used in the kitchen to stabilize egg whites as you beat them and give them more volume. It also finds its way into candies and frostings to help keep them nice and creamy.

Where does cream of tartar come from? It’s actually (drum roll, please) a byproduct of making wine.

Wine?

Yep, wine. (Potassium bitartrate from the grapes crystallizes on the insides of wine casks.) Most American markets will keep it with the spices or the baking supplies. It’s white powdery stuff and comes in a small jar.

What makes a souffle rise?

I’m oversimplifying a little, but two things make a souffle rise: Air and protein.

When you beat the egg whites, you’re incorporating lots of air into them. These air bubbles will expand in the oven and cause your souffle to rise. The heat from the oven will also stabilize the protein in the whites, which gives the souffle its (albeit fragile) structure.

8 tips for making a perfect souffle

Here are some tips that will improve your chances of souffle success:

1. Make them, then serve them. Souffles need to be served hot out of the oven.
2. Bring the egg whites to room temperature before you beat them. They’ll take more air that way. (More air = more height.)
3. Carefully separate your egg whites from the yolks. Any traces of fat from the yolks will keep the whites from beating up properly.
4. Use a very (very, very) clean bowl to whip your whites.
5. Be sure to beat the egg whites long enough. That means to stiff peaks (not soft peaks). But don’t overbeat them to the point where they get grainy (you can actually destabilize that network of air bubbles you worked so hard to create).
6. Fold the egg whites into the marmalade mixture gently. (Don’t stir it. Don’t beat it. You don’t want to deflate the whites.)
7. Test the souffles for doneness by inserting a metal skewer into them. Like testing a cake, the skewer should come out clean, not covered in egg-y mixture.
8. Don’t jump around in the kitchen when the souffles are in the oven.

All that said, sometimes your souffle will flop

I said earlier that one of my souffles flopped—and that it was my fault. It was.

This recipe makes six individual souffles.

Now, I only have four ramekins at home. (You see where this is going.) I made the full recipe, and figured I’d just bake them a little longer. Turns out, I filled one too much and didn’t bake it long enough.

Three of my souffles came out well. The fourth—one that got a little more of the souffle mixture than the others—flopped.

I would have known this was going to happen—if I tested them with a metal skewer. Which I didn’t. So two strikes against The Mouse. I did, however, wind up with three perfectly lovely souffles, so I’m still considering this a victory.

The moral of the story? Use this recipe, but follow the instructions and fill six ramekins. (Six. Not four. Sigh.)

Marmalade Souffles

Recipe from Fine Cooking magazine

Butter
3 Tbls. sugar + more for the ramekins
2/3 cup marmalade
1 Tbls. lemon juice
1 Tbls. triple sec
2 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar (about 1/16th of a teaspoon or so)

Makes 6 individual soufflees (in 6 oz. ramekins)

How to position your oven racks

Do this first. It’ll only take a sec, and you won’t want to stop to do it once the souffles are ready to go into the oven. You’re going to bake the souffles on the bottom rack. Move the top rack so that you give your souffles about six inches of headroom.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Coat the ramekins with butter and sugar

Grab your ramekins. Generously butter the insides, making sure to get in all the corners.

Put a spoonful of sugar in one.

Roll the sugar around in the ramekin until it coats the bottom and sides.

When it’s coated, tap the excess sugar out. (Tap the sugar out over the next ramekin to use up all the sugar.) Repeat until you’ve coated all the buttered ramekins.

As the souffle rises in the oven, a little bit of this sugar will stick to the edges, providing a really nice texture and crunch.

Make marmalade mixture

Put the marmalade into a large mixing bowl.

Add the lemon juice and orange liqueur to the bowl.

Whisk it all together until it’s uniform.

Like this. Set it aside while you deal with the egg whites.

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks

Measure out your sugar and set it aside.

Put the egg whites in the bowl of your mixer—or in a large mixing bowl if you’re using a handheld mixer or beating by hand. (I started mine out in my KitchenAid, then switched to beating by hand because my whisk attachment wasn’t quite getting to the bottom of the bowl…two egg whites isn’t a lot.)

Be sure that you don’t get any yolk in the whites. The fat in the yolks will keep them from poofing up properly.

Toss in a pinch of cream of tartar. Beat the egg whites until they’re frothy.

When they start to get thick and opaque, start to sprinkle in the sugar little by little, beating as you go. You should notice the whites increase in volume and get glossy.

Stop beating when they hold a stiff peak, like this. (A stiff peak will stand up straight. A soft peak will flop over.)

Fold the beaten egg whites into the marmalade

Scoop about a third of your beaten egg whites into the bowl with the marmalade mixture.

Gently fold them in. Use a light hand. The goal is to knock as little air out of the egg whites as possible. (Less air = less poof when they bake.)

When you’ve incorporated the egg whites, fold in another third.

Then fold in the last third.

Your finished mixture should look about like this.

Fill each ramekin about halfway. Use all six ramekins. Don’t overfill them. (Remember my flopped souffle above.)

Bake the souffles

Put the ramekins on a sheet pan. Pop the pan into your preheated, 425-degree oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the top is a nutty brown color.

As they bake, they’ll start to poof up.

And poof…

…and poof (it’s that tall one on the back right that flopped on me)…

They’re done when the top looks about like this.

Serve them immediately.

Enjoy!

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“Hey Mouse, you know what would be really cool?”

“What would that be, Otter?”

“Meringues in the shape of sea urchins. You could make them all purple and spikey.”

Her face lit up and my wheels started turning. Cut to today, where I am covered in gooey meringue and my hands are stained with food coloring.

I, think, however, I’ve succeeded—at least for the first generation. Allow me to present my Happy Sea Urchin Meringues.

Truth be told, I think they look like a cross between a puffer fish and a sea urchin.

A note on making meringues
For a detailed explanation on the ins and outs of making meringues—and an Epicurious video of part of the technique—take a peek at my Tuxedo Meringue post.

Also, compared to the Tuxedos, this is not a quick endeavor. These cookies are considerably larger, so they take a ridiculous amount of time to bake. It’s also raining today, and the humidity may be affecting my bake time.

Happy Sea Urchin Meringues

4 jumbo eggs
1 cup white sugar
red food coloring
blue food coloring

Start with your pots and pans
Preheat your oven to 275 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Fill a medium-sized saucepan about a third full with water. Set on the stove over high heat to bring to a simmer.

Separate the eggs
Start by separating the eggs. For this recipe, you’re only going to use the egg whites. Be careful not to get any yolk in the whites. Even the smallest speck of yolk will keep the whites from whipping up properly.

Stick the yolks in the fridge and use them up in the next day or so. (I’ll probably make some kind of ice cream, which usually calls for yolks, not whites.)

Make the meringue base
Add the egg whites and sugar to a heatproof bowl. To cut down on dishes, I use the bowl of my mixer, which is stainless steel.

Whisk them together well. Set the bowl in the pot of simmering water. Continue to whisk.

Beat the eggs constantly for about 5 minutes until they are heated through and start to fluff up a little and get opaque.

Whip the meringue
In a mixer (or with a hand-held mixer), whip the egg whites on high for about 5 minutes, until they begin to form glossy, stiff peaks.

Add the color
Now, this part is approximate. To get my shade of pale lavender, I used about 10 drops red food dye and about 15 drops of blue.

Stop your mixer. Start with 5 drops of each color, putting close to the center of your bowl. Whip to mix thoroughly.

Take a peek at the color, and add more until you’re satisfied with how they look. Go slowly, as once you put the color in, you can’t get it back out.

Form your sea urchins
You’re ready to drop and form your meringues.

Remove the bowl from your mixer. Grab your prepared pans and two large soup spoons. You could also use a small ice cream scoop if you have one (I don’t).

Using the two soup spoons like salad servers, scoop up a blob of meringue and drop it on one of your pans. Use the back of one spoon to smooth it out.

With a (very clean) finger, gently tap the surface of the blob repeatedly to coax spikes out of the surface.

I tried a bunch of different methods for making the spikes, from tapping the meringue with the back of a small spoon, to stabbing at it with a toothpick and a chopstick. In the end, my finger worked the best.

When they’re ready to bake, your meringues should look about like this:

When both your pans are done, stick them in the oven at 275 degrees for about 2 hours, depending on the size of your cookies. Check them after 1 hour in the oven, and after about 1 1/2 hours, keep a good eye on them. See below for notes on doneness.

A note on timing & doneness
Now, my Tuxedo Meringues baked in about 45 minutes. These take considerably longer, mainly because the cookies are much bigger. There’s also no chocolate in this one, which I think affects the bake time, too.

The goal is for them to be crisp on the outside, and chewy on the inside.

(If they’re rubbery when you touch them, or if they stick or leave a gooey mess, put them back in the oven and bake 5 minutes more, then test again.)

When they’re done, transfer the meringues to a wire rack.

Let cool completely. Serve and enjoy!

Notes for next time
While I’m really happy with how these turned out, I think I’ll make a few changes next time. Namely, I’d like them to be a much more vivid purple. I also think I’ll paint little faces on them.

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Sometimes the sternest methods yield the most whimsical results. Such is the case with meringue cookies.

Nothing makes me feel like I’m Baking (with a capital “B”) like making these meringues. The separation of the eggs. The melting of the chocolate. The multiple water baths. The whisking. Oh, the constant whisking.

These cookies only have three ingredients. And they’re really very easy to make. You just need to follow a few simple rules. Absolutely no yolk in the egg whites. Don’t overwhip the meringue. And so on.

When done right, they’re beautifully marbled, crisp on the outside, and chewy on the inside. They’re a light and delicate ending to an elegant dinner—or a fantastic and fancy surprise to tuck inside a bento box lunch.

If you’re familiar with making a meringue, skip ahead to the recipe—I do a bit of overexplaining in the paragraphs that follow. If this is your first time and egg whites scare you, read on!

A note on method, equipment & ingredients
Normally, I kind of fly by the seat of my pants when I cook. Not so when I make these.

I lay everything out beforehand. I move slower than usual. I actually do check things twice. Because with this one, timing and technique count. You don’t want to curdle your egg whites by over-whipping them. You want to fold in the chocolate until it’s barely combined—and then stop.

You can make these cookies without any special equipment. A hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment helps, but you can also whip the egg whites the old-fashioned way: by hand. (Hey, your biceps will thank you in the morning.)

You also need to make two water baths: one to melt the chocolate and one to heat up the egg whites and sugar. Traditional double boilers will work, as will heatproof bowls set over sauce pots of simmering water.

The main thing to understand is that fat is a meringue’s arch enemy. This means that when you separate the eggs, be sure you don’t have any yolk in with the whites. Any yolk at all will keep the whites from whipping up right.

If you’re unsure about the business of dealing with egg whites, this video from Epicurious explains the technique really well. (Your whites will be glossier than these, because they have sugar in them.)

OK. Enough explanation. Let’s get baking.

Tuxedo Meringues

3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped (if you’re using Baker’s chocolate, that’s 3 wrapped squares)
4 egg whites from jumbo eggs
1 cup sugar

First, the pots and pans
Preheat your oven to 275 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Fill two medium-sized saucepans with a few inches of water. Set both on the stove to bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.

Melt the chocolate
Roughly chop the chocolate into smallish pieces. Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over one pot of simmering water. Stir occasionally to melt.

When the chocolate has melted, turn the heat off. Leave it on the stove, stirring occasionally while you prep the egg whites.

Start the meringue on the stove
Combine the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over the second pot of simmering water and whisk steadily for about 5 minutes. You want to bring the temperature up slowly so your mixture thickens.

Finish the meringue at your mixer
Transfer the bowl from the stove top to your mixer. Whip on high for about 5 minutes, until the whites form glossy, stiff peaks.

When the egg whites look like they do below, stop. It’s completely possibly to whip a meringue too much, which results in an icky, curdled mess.

Drizzle in the chocolate
When the egg whites are ready, remove the bowl from the mixer. Give the melted chocolate a stir. Pour it over the egg white mixture.

With a rubber spatula, carefully fold in the chocolate. The goal is to marble it through the egg whites—not mix it in completely. A few folds should suffice.

Drop the cookies onto the baking sheets
With a soup spoon, drop large blobs of the marbled meringue onto your prepared baking sheets. Leave a few inches between cookies.

Bake, cool & enjoy!
Bake for about 40-45 minutes at 275 degrees, or until completely hard on the outside.

When done, transfer cookies carefully to a wire rack. Let cool completely.

They should be crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Serve as a light dessert with strong coffee.

Store in a zip-top bag or airtight container. Makes 18-20 large meringues.

***
Copyright 2008 The Hungry Mouse™/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.

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