So, you bought a bunch of lemons and made Lemon Curd, a Lemon Braid and now what? Let’s make something called “Lemon Heaven”. This is a Lemon Souffle served cold and absolutely heavenly. It is lemon pie on a cloud – billowy, creamy and lemony without being too tart or too sweet. Plus, you could put a collar of foil around your dish to make this look like a “real” souffle. Fancy, but incredibly easy.
Lemon Heaven
yield 4-6 servings
2 & 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest (zest first, juice them last)
1/2 cup lemon juice (about 4 medium lemons for me)
2 tsp. unflavored gelatin (like SureGel, it is near the Jell-O section usually)
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup (5.25 oz.) sugar
2 large eggs, separated and room temp.
3 large egg whites, room temp.
1/4 tsp. cornstarch
pinch of cream of tartar
3/4 cup heavy cream
1. In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the lemon juice and let sit.
2. In saucepan (nonstick worked fine for me), heat 1/2 cup sugar and the whole milk on medium-low. Continue about 5 minutes when the sugar is dissolved and milk is steaming.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the 2 egg yolks, 2 Tb. sugar and cornstarch. Whisk until thicker and lighter yellow in color. Now temper your yolks by putting a little of the milk mixture into the yolk mixture and whisk constantly. Keep adding the milk until all of it is in the yolk mixture. Then dump all of that back into the saucepan. Cook still over medium or medium low heat. Stir all the time – but definitely towards the end. The mixture should be 185 degrees, takes about 4 minutes (mine took more like 8 minutes) and the mix is a little thicker like cream. (I used my turkey probe to take the temp.)
4. Have a strainer ready over a very large bowl. Have the large bowl sitting in a sink or larger bowl filled with ice cold water to cool the mixture. Pour the yolk mixture into the strainer and catch it in the large bowl. Remove strainer and mix the lemon juice/gel and zest into the yolk mixture.
5. Stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar about 1 minute on medium-low. Change to medium-high for 1 minute or until the egg whites larger but not “whipped” to soft peaks. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and whip to “soft peak”, about 1-2 minutes. Watch carefully! Sometimes mine took only 45 seconds.
6. Take the yolk mix out of the ice water and now whisk in 1/3 of the egg white mixture. Next, fold in the rest of the egg white mixture.
7. Wipe out the mixer bowl and whip the cream on medium-low for 1 minute. (I didn’t bother cleaning the whisk attachment. It’ll be okay with a little egg white on there.) Then boost to medium-high for 1-3 minutes or “soft peak” form. Fold the cream mixture into the yolk/egg white mixture.
8. Pour the custard mixture into one of these options for serving:
1-quart souffle dish with a foil collar taped around it (so it looks like a baked “souffle”)
or 1 and 1/2 quart souffle dish
or corningware dishes like the ones you bake with because you don’t have the money or space for “souffle” dishes like me
or 8 – 6 ounce ramekins fitted with foil collars so everyone gets a pretty presentation
9. Chill for 90 minutes and serve.
One part of the recipe recommended to eat within 6 hours. I ate it 3 days later and it was still yummy. But after realizing I had raw egg whites in there, I didn’t eat it after day 3. I’m still alive.
Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen
They called it “Chilled Lemon Souffle” but I think it tastes like heaven.
