Chocolate Lava Cakes

This is a super easy recipe for an impressive dessert. They only take a few minutes to prep and can sit in the fridge until you're ready to cook them. They'd be great for a dinner party since you could pop them in the oven when you sit down to eat so they'll be ready when you are. The recipe comes from Simply Recipes but I replaced the mint with vanilla. Let me know if you try the mint though - I bet it is yummy too.

Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2 with one cake leftover :)

Ingredients

• 3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate (I used the Ghiradelli baking bar)
• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/6 cup sugar
• 2 TBSP all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt

Prep

1. Preheat oven to 375°. If you want to make these ahead of time, just preheat your oven before you're ready to bake.
2. Generously butter three 3/4-cup (6 ounce) ramekins. I do this by putting about 1 TBSP of butter into one ramekin, melting it in the microwave, then using a pastry brush (or paper towel) to spread the butter into all of the ramekins.
3. Cut the butter into pieces and break up the chocolate into a small saucepan. Melt the chocolate and butter together over low heat until it's smooth. Keep an eye on it while it cooks and stir it often to keep it from scorching.

4. Once it's smooth, remove the pan from the burner and let it cool for a few minutes.
5. While it cools, add your eggs, egg yolk, and the sugar to an electric mixer and beat until foamy and slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. I set a timer while it was beating.

6. Add the flour to the egg mixture and beat until incorporated.
7. Add the chocolate mixture, the vanilla, and the salt. Beat just until incorporated.

8. Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared ramekins. I also like to top the cakes with little extra sea salt. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and set aside until ready to cook.

Cook

1. Bake the cakes in your preheated oven until the edges are set but the centers are still shiny and wiggle a bit like Jello. This should take about 10 minutes but start checking the cakes at 9 minutes.

2. Let the cakes cool for 5-10 minutes. You can either serve them in the ramekins or run a knife around the edge of each cake and flip them onto a plate. Serve with vanilla ice cream on top.