Chocolate Molten Cakes for Secret Recipe Club

Good Morning! You may have noticed that I skipped the Secret Recipe Club last month. With our house closing 2 weeks early, it was just impossible to get in the kitchen. So, this is my first official post as a GROUP B member! I say goodbye and thanks to Group D. They were a great group, but I wanted to try some new blogs. So, when the option came up to change, I switched to B. Now, my reveal dates are earlier in the month.

This month I had the pleasure of baking from Searching for Spice.   Corina hails London, far away from my little Utah, USA.  Her measurements are in grams. So, I wasn't quite sure my conversions would work! It's hard when baking not to have exact measurements, but I forged ahead. And... ta da!  Fabulous little chocolate cakes! I cooked them a bit too long, so they didn't have the "lava" in the middle, but they were great with a little scoop of ice cream on top. Who can say no to chocolate cakes? Right?

The recipe makes 2 cakes in larger ramekins, but mine were small, so I got 4 out of it. But, you can see I could have filled them a little more. So, plan on 2-3 mini cakes.

Chocolate Molten Cakes
found on Searching for Spice; adapted from Gordon Ramsey's Gordon Ramsey Makes it Easy.

2 teas cocoa powder
3.5 Tb (50g) unsalted butter
3.5 Tb (50g) dark chocolate chips
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
4.3 Tb (60g) sugar
3.5 Tb (50g) flour

Preheat oven to 350 F. (180C)

Grease your ramekins. Put the cocoa powder in one. Put the other ramekin upside down on top of the first, hold firmly, and shake. This will coat both ramekins in cocoa powder.

Put the chocolate and butter in a small dish and microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted.  Leave to cool slightly.

Put the whole egg, and the egg yolk, in another larger bowl with the sugar. Whisk until the mixture becomes pale and thick.  Pour a small amount of the egg/sugar mixture into the chocolate and stir. Then, pour all of the chocolate into the rest of the egg/sugar mixture; stirring constantly.  We don't want to cook the eggs!

Sift the flour on top of the chocolate and fold into the chocolate. 

Pour into ramekins; about halfway; and bake for 12 minutes. The top will appear done, but it should still be liquid in the middle. The toothpick test will not work! :)

Eat directly from the ramekins, or very, very carefully, unmold them and serve.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Cookie Bars

I've discovered something about myself as I cook and bake more. I'm becoming more adventurous, and willing to take risks with my food. Valentine's day weekend, I was making a desert to take to a family party. It was supposed to be a strawberry jello-like dessert. I made the crust, but when I went to make the topping, I realized that I didn't have any white chocolate chips. I was tired and disappointed. A year earlier, I would have thrown in the towel and picked something up at the grocery store.

This time, however, I just stood there, staring at that crust, wondering what I could do with it. I wanted to use the strawberries, and I had the idea of cream stuck in my head. I ended up making a cream cheese frosting, and added the strawberries on top. Now, it sounded simple. Basically it was just a sugar cookie with frosting and strawberries. You can imagine that, right? But, when it came time to eat, this desert was an amazing creation. The frosting had not set up like frosting does, probably because of the strawberry juice, or because it had been out of the fridge for awhile. I was so worried when I cut into it, and the frosting was a liquid. But then I heard something... From the mouth of my Grandpa came these words... "This sauce is amazing!" Yes! My dessert was a triumph!

Strawberry Cookie Bars

Crust:
1 pouch (1lb 1.5oz) Sugar Cookie Mix (I used Betty Crocker)
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 egg

Frosting:
1 cream cheese block, softened
1 stick (1/4 lb or 1/2 cup) butter, softened
4 cups Powdered Sugar
1 teas. vanilla
1 cup of pureed strawberries

Toppings:
3-4 cups additional sliced strawberries
1 cup shredded coconut

Heat oven to 350. Spray bottom only of a 13x9inch baking pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine cookie mix, butter, and egg until a soft dough forms. Press evenly in bottom of pan. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool completely- about 30 minutes.

Make frosting: Combine all the frosting ingredients, EXCEPT the strawberries in a large bowl. Mix with a hand mixer on medium, until combined and fluffy. Stir in pureed strawberries.

Layer the sliced strawberries on top of the cookie crust; saving a few for garnish.

Frost the top of the cookie bar. I didn't use the entire amount of frosting- only about 3/4 of it. If you have extras, just put it in the fridge, where you can spread it on graham crackers and enjoy later!

Sprinkle the saved strawberries and the coconut on top of the frosting. Cover and refrigerate to keep the strawberries fresh.