“Not me,” Hannah whispered back. “I don’t think it would have done me any good at all.”
Michelle stifled a laugh, and Hannah realized that her sister had succeeded in relaxing her. She wasn’t as nervous as she’d been several minutes ago. Maybe this would be all right after all. She would do her best and hope that it was good enough. And even if it wasn’t, she’d know that she had given it her all.
Suddenly it was brighter than daylight as the stage lighting clicked on and the exhaust fans began to whirr. Hannah blinked once or twice, but then her eyes became accustomed to the light. She peered into the darkness beyond the stages for a glimpse of Ross and P.K. She could see shapes, but that was all. Nobody outside the stage area was discernable.
One by one, the judges were introduced. As the announcer called their names, each judge walked forward and took a chair at the judges’ table. As the announcer began to announce the contestants, Hannah felt the butterflies in her stomach take flight. This happened every time she had to appear in front of an audience.
“Hannah Swensen from Lake Eden, Minnesota, and her assistant, Michelle Swensen,” the announcer intoned. “Miss Swensen owns a bakery and coffee shop called The Cookie Jar.”
Hannah reached for the bag of white chocolate chips and moved it slightly and Michelle grabbed the bowl and the wooden spoon. It was their great-grandmother Elsa’s spoon and Hannah had brought it with them for luck. Just in time, Hannah remembered to smile and then the cameras moved on.
“Good job!” Michelle whispered. “You didn’t look nervous at all.”
“Appearances are deceiving,” Hannah whispered back, replacing the chips.
All of the contestants listened attentively while the announcer read the rules. Of course they all knew the rules from previous readings and reminders, but it was for the audience’s benefit. Then the announcer cued Alain Duquesne to start the timer on the judges’ table. It was a two-sided clock that was clearly visible to both the audience and the contestants, and it would tick off the seconds and minutes of their time limit.
For one very brief and panicked moment, Hannah was frozen in place. And then her muscles relaxed and she began to move. Michelle used the stovetop on their U-shaped work station to cook the sauce that would be ladled into the individual soufflé cups that they would present to the judges. As Hannah preheated the oven, prepared the soufflé dishes, and began to assemble the ingredients, the butterflies in her stomach calmed down and decided to take a nap.
They baked exactly as they had practiced in their rehearsal and everything went according to plan. Hannah kept an eye on the clock. Soufflés were time critical and their soufflés had to be ready at exactly the right moment to present them to the judges.
The soufflés rose as planned. They were very close to ready when the time clock at the judges’ table sounded a two-minute warning with a klaxon-like sound that was much louder than needed. Hannah removed the soufflé dishes from the oven, Michelle poured the sauce into a pitcher, and they were ready.
When their names were announced Hannah carried the soufflés to the judges’ table, and Michelle followed her with the sauces and the cutlery they needed for their presentation.
“Soufflés?!” Alain Duquesne sounded astounded. “You took quite a risk, Miss Swensen. What would you have done if they’d fallen? Served them to us anyway and called them pancakes?”
Hannah and Michelle laughed dutifully, even though the head judge’s joke wasn’t that funny. But he was waiting for an answer and Hannah spoke.
“I’ve made these dozens of times, Chef Duquesne, and they’ve never fallen. It’s a wonderful recipe.”
“And I suppose you created it?” Jeremy Zales asked her.
“No, Chef Zales. It came from a friend, Aunt Nancy and she received it from a friend of hers, Anne Elizabeth. I just modified it a bit by using white chocolate chips.”
“How much flour is in this soufflé?” La Vonna Brach asked.
“None, Ms. Brach. I’m not a nutritionist and I don’t have the background to make this claim, but I think that this soufflé may be a gluten-free dessert.”
“It sounds like you’re right, Miss Swensen,” Christian Parker said.
“It’s delicious,” Helene Stone commented. “Have you ever tried it with powdered vanilla?”
“No, Ms. Stone. I don’t have access to ingredients like that in Lake Eden, but I’ll check with Florence at the Red Owl Grocery when I get home to see if she can special order it. It sounds like a wonderful idea.”
“I do like the fact you gave us two individual bowls of sauce,” Christian Parker said. “Is that the way you serve it at The Cookie Jar?”
“Yes. We give people a choice and let them ladle it on themselves. Some want to try both sauces, others prefer one or the other, and there are a few who don’t want any sauce at all.”