Grand Marnier souffle

Warm all the milk over low to medium heat in a saucier with half a vanilla bean and its scraped seeds.

Whisk two egg yolks with all the pastry cream sugar for a minute until the sugar dissolves and the mix turns white; keep a third yolk aside for later.

Incorporate the flour, sifted.

Turn off the milk and strain about half of it onto the thick yolk mixture, whisking, then the rest; return it all to the pan through a rinsed sieve.

Whisk over the lowest heat possible to avoid clumps until it thickens smooth, about two minutes, then boil gently two to three minutes more.

Transfer the pastry cream to a clean container, press plastic film onto the surface and keep at room temperature.

Brush the ramekins with a little melted butter in upward strokes from the bottom to make rails, then fill with sugar, turn it around and tap out the excess.

Cut the biscuits into slices sized to the ramekins and soak them in two tablespoons of Grand Marnier.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius, conventional heat with no fan.

Whisk the extra egg yolk and a tablespoon of liqueur (and optionally grated orange zest) into the still-warm pastry cream to loosen it; taste for liqueur.

Whip about 130 grams of egg whites with a little sugar and a pinch of salt, adding the rest of the sugar in three goes, speeding up at the end until firm with small peaks, about one minute at full speed.

Mix some egg white into the pastry cream with a whisk to match consistencies, then fold in the rest with a spatula in two or three goes, from the middle, gently.

Put about three biscuit pieces in each ramekin, add souffle mixture, more biscuits, then fill to the brim and smooth with a spatula.

Run the edge of a clean thumb around the inside rim to detach the mixture so it rises.

Bake about 10 to 12 minutes and serve immediately, since it deflates within minutes.