A Special Treat..Gooey Chocolate Cakes

Throughout this pregnancy I have been craving nothing but sweets which is odd for me. I'm the type of person who could have Halloween candy sitting around until Easter and never touch it. But a bag of potato chips, forget it! Gone in a day!

So when thinking about Valentine's Day, I decided to bake a dessert. I went in search of easy ideas (remember, I'm not a baker), and got a suggestion to make this recipe from the blog Reservations not Required. It looked easy enough and sounded delicious. I ended up making it a week late, but it was worth the wait. Make sure you eat this dessert warm. Jon wished we had some vanilla ice cream to go with it - I agree!

Ingredients

• 1/3 c all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder; I used Ghiardelli
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 oz bittersweet chocolate; I used Ghiardelli. 4 oz coarsely chopped, 1 oz finely chopped
• 1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk at room temperature
• 6 tbsp sugar
• Added: powdered sugar for serving

Directions

• Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.
• Butter (or spray) a 6-muffin pan; sprinkle the cups with flour and tap off the excess. Put the pan on a baking sheet.
• Sift the flour, cocoa, and salt together
• Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Put the 4 oz of coarsely chopped chocolate and all of the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally just until they are melted (took about 4 minutes). You don't want the butter and chocolate to separate. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
• In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until they are homogeneous
• Add the sugar and whisk until well blended
• Add the dry ingredients and using the whisk, stir (don't beat) them into the eggs.
• Little by little, using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate/butter mixture.
• Divide the batter evenly amongst the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the top of each.
• Bake the cakes for 13 minutes exactly - there is no way to test them as the inside stays liquid.
• Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a cooling rack for exactly 3 minutes.
• Line a cutting board with a silicone mat, parchment paper, or wax paper. Lift the cakes out of the muffin pan and set on the board. I was able to easily do this without flipping the pan, as I thought I'd have to do.

I served them sprinkled with the powdered sugar.
These little cakes were so rich and delicious, and not too sweet. We both loved them and I would definitely make them again.

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