Hot Chocolate Souffle

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
3 tablespoon flour
3/4 cup milk
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon stick butter or margarine, softened (or spreads with at least 60% vegetable oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch o' salt
2 tablespoons sugar

Step 1:

You will also need: Mixing bowls, saucepan and four stoneware ramekins or a four-cup soufflé dish.

Step 2:

An oven set to 350F (180C) and just to ensure even heating, a pizza stone.

Step 3:

Butter and then lightly sugar the ramekins. You can either just tap the sugar around, or cover the top of the ramekin with plastic wrap and shake it.

Step 4:

Mix 1/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup baking cocoa and 3 tablespoons flour in saucepan. Then add 3/4 milk, and heat stovetop to medium-high.

Step 5:

Stir continuously until cocoa mixture starts to bubble, and remove from heat. If you don't keep stirring like I did last time I made a soufflé, you'll end up with a chocolate lump with turd-like consistency. This is how it should look:

Step 6:

Beat 2 egg yolk with a whisk or a fork.

Step 7:

Beat 1/3 of the cocoa mixture into the egg yolks.

Step 8:

Then slowly stir in the rest of the cocoa mixture. If you dump the whole mixture in at the same time, your eggs might just scramble.

Step 9:

Stir in butter/margarine and vanilla, and then set aside to cool slightly.

Step 10:

Beat 3 egg whites, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar and a pinch o' salt together with an electric mixer until foamy. Then beat in 2 tablespoons of sugar, one tablespoon at a time until eggs are glossy.

Step 11:

Back to the eggs. You'll know the egg whites are beaten just right when you can remove the mixers and the egg white forms these sexy double peaks.

Step 12:

Stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the cocoa/egg yolk mixture.

Step 13:

Visually divide the remaining egg whites into thirds, and carefully fold each third in one at a one with a spatula. The more air bubbles you crush, the less awesomely puffy the soufflé’s going to be.

Step 14:

Pour batter into dishes and set timer for 1 hour. WARNING: Don't open the oven door. Don't kick the oven door. Just leave the kitchen all together.

Step 15:

Its 4:55 in the morning. Goodnight, little soufflés.

Step 16:

Beep, beep, beep, beep! Lessee what these bad boys look like. SUCCESS! If the soufflettes don't look quite done, keep em in there for another 5-10 minutes.

Step 17:

There is but one last thing to do. Dribble your topping of choice (whipped cream, powered sugar, Gran Marnier or the less successful Magic Shell™) over the soufflé and dive into the warm chocolately abyss...