Cinnamon Roll Souffle

When you run a business, no matter how positive you try to be, the negative feedback can overwhelm you. I would get completely bogged down with it. At every restaurant we had, I would at times spend weeks fixated on a single plate sent back, or one phoned-in complaint. Or even a 4-star review. Forget the praise from a thousand happy customers who thought we were doing a great job; it was the discordant hate-songs of a few dissatisfied customers that ran on a loop in my brain.  

Focusing on moments like the one below helped curb the negativity:

When we first moved to Lubbock, before we entered our Restaurant Era, I gave The Davo a beer brewing kit for Christmas. He promptly turned around and joined a local brew club called the Ale-ians. His stories of the weekly  meeting shenanigans were so, uh, intoxicating that I started attending them with him. What a fun bunch that was! I was a little surprised to see almost as many women there as men. In fact, some clever members (Bryan and Diana, was it you?) came up with an annual spring brew-off appropriately dubbed “the Male-ians vs. the Female-ians.” I don’t remember how that judging took place but I think the Female-ians won the first year. (Steer beer? No thank you. Heifer-weizen, yes? How about a port-her, or an amb-her, or a lag-her? Hell(y)es!

Jason Courtney was a founding member of the beer club, and a friend. As head brewer at Hub City Brewing (now Triple J) in downtown Lubbock, he brought home the coveted 2002 Brew Pub Brew Master of the Year from the Great American Beer Festival. I admired his dedication to his craft, I marveled at his talent, and thus revered his palate. So when, upon tasting this cinnamon roll souffle for the first time at a small dinner party, he declared it “the best thing I ever put in my mouth,” I knew it was going to be on a menu somewhere, someday.

Fast forward to Manna several years later: the dish was loved by many but equally hated by a few—namely, the entire Manna kitchen staff. The meringue had to be whipped to order after hand-separating the whites from the yolks, then piped on, baked, and the whole thing served brown and hot. Try doing all that in a 12’ x 12’ kitchen with a dozen dinner tickets up and no ovens available. (Even in larger kitchens, there’s a reason desserts are frequently plated in advance and ready for the dining room when the dinner bell rings.) Our solution for that troublesome dessert was to train our customers. It took some coaching, but eventually the servers had our dinner guests putting in their cinnamon roll souffle orders when they ordered their entrees, not as the plates were being cleared.

That way, we had at least a 30-minute head’s-up to freak out about having no hands to whip up the meringue and no available oven space to bake it in. Lesser kitchens would have taken this dessert off the menu. Our staff was made of better stuff though, and through the years, with much perserverence, we delighted hundreds of customers with these secret-treasure custards hidden under mountains of magnificent meringue.

I just learned of Jason’s passing earlier this year. RIP, Mr. Courtney. You’ll never know how many times the memory of your sweet reaction to my sweets talked me down from a bad place. I raise a coffee stout in your honor, sir. clink

 Serves 6 - 8.

In a large bowl, whisk together the custard . . . . Tear into pieces and divide evenly among the 4 ramekins . . . . . . . . . . . Whip together the meringue and set aside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Make the butterscotch sauce: boil two minutes and keep warm . . . . . . . . .

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3 eggs ¾ c. sugar 1 c. heavy cream 1 c. half-n-half 1 t. vanilla ¼ t. nutmeg pinch salt 2 Little Debbie Pecan Spinwheels or similar 4 egg whites 3 T. sugar 1 t. vanilla 1 t. cream of tartar ½ c. heavy cream ½ c. brown sugar 3 T. butter, 1 T. scotch or bourbon

Preheat oven to 350°. Bake 25 - 30 minutes, just until the custard is set. Cool to room temperature. The custards can be cooled, wrapped, and refrigerated for several days at this point, if not serving immediately. Preheat oven to 400°. Tip room temperature custards out onto four ovenproof plates. Cover each custard with meringue using a piping bag and star tip and bake 5 - 10 minutes, until meringue is browned. It should look something like a beehive. Serve hot with butterscotch sauce drizzled on the plate. Do not skip the sauce! It’s what brings the whole dish together: dig into the middle to find a bite of cinnamon roll, bring along some custard, scoop on a pile of meringue, drag your fork through the sauce and just go ahead and let your eyes roll back into your head as your fork finds its destination.