Mandarin personal soufflé with Chocolate and Grand Marnier Sauce

I found so many soufflés in last week's blog hops that I felt the urge to make my own, especially after discovering that the amount of butter in most of the recipes is not excessive. Some of the recipes I found online do not even call for butter but use canola oil instead. But I cannot use vegetable oil in a recipe that has a french name!

What's nice about this recipe is the possibility to store them in the freezer until ready to bake, so that they can be made in advance. I would say a couple of days, maybe even a week but I would not push it much more than that. I baked two one day and two more the day after, so I could tell the difference (not much). Also I made a mistake: for the first batch I poured cold water in the pan but they rose anyway so, no big deal!

I chose mandarin because guess what!? I had leftover mandarins that were a little old to eat straight but perfect for baking. I believe that you can substitute any citrus, including lemon.

Makes 4 personal soufflés.

Ingredients for the soufflés:

• 2 Tbsp of butter
• 2 Tbsp of sugar
• 2 Tbsp of AP flour
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 2 eggs (divide yolks and whites)
• 1/3 cup mandarin juice (about 4 small mandarins)
• The grated zest of 4 small mandarins (only if using organic ones)
• 1/4 tsp of pure vanilla extract (optional)

Preparation:

• In a saucepan melt butter, stir in flour and add milk, one teaspoon at a time until smooth then bring to boil until thick. Be very careful when it starts thickening because it forms lumps very easily. Stir in mandarin juice, zest and vanilla if using, and set apart.
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• In a medium bowl, beat eggs and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy; in another small bowl beat the egg whites until stiff. The egg whites and the beaters need to be very clean. Incorporate mandarin mix and egg yolks; then slowly fold the whites in. Divide the soufflé mix evenly and pour it in 4 soufflé dishes, which you previously brushed with butter and covered with a thin layer of flour.
• At this point you can either freeze the cups, until ready to bake.
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• When you are ready to bake the soufflé, preheat the oven at 350F.  Place the soufflé dishes into a baking pan and pour hot water into the pan to a depth of 1/2 inch. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted to the center comes out clean.

As for the sauce, I just melted some dark chocolate (about 3 ounces) with 2 Tbsp of heavy cream and some milk because it was still very thick and added 2 Tbsp of Grand Marnier. You can find recipes for chocolate sauces around the web, for example here.