Great Make-Ahead Dessert!

Had a great time at a dinner party tonight and wanted to share this recipe from "The Best Make-Ahead Recipe" cookbook by the Cooks Illustrated people. I prepped them in the morning. Put them in my new basement freezer. Took the unbaked cakes out of the freezer, brought them to my friends house. They waited in the frig until we were done with dinner. Stuck them in the oven and the poofed up like mini souffles. They looked so pretty puffed over the edge of their white ramekins that I didn't have the heart to flip them out. The great thing about this dessert is that they can be premade and just sit in the freezer for up to a month. Pop just one in the oven at the end of dinner and you can enjoy your own individual homemade beautifully warm chocolate cake in 15 min. I know...danger.

Individual Molten Chocolate Cakes

The Best Make-Ahead Recipe: Cooks Illustrated Cookbook

• Ramekin Prep:

• 1 T. unsalted butter, softened

• 1 T. cocoa powder

• Cakes:

• 8 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

• 8 T. (1 stick) unsalted butter

• 4 large eggs

• 1 large egg yolk

• 1 t. vanilla extract

• ¼ t. vanilla extract

• ¼ t. salt

• ½ c. sugar

• 2 T. all-purpose flour

• For the Ramekins:

• Butter the ramekins and coat with cocoa.set aside.

• For the cake:

• Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler or microwave until smooth. Set aside.

• Using electric mixer, Whip eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt, and sugar together at the highest speed until the volume nearly triples, the color is very lights and the mixture drops from the whisk in a smooth thick stream 5-10 min depending on mixer.

• Scrape egg mixture over the melted chocolate, then sprinkle the flour over the top. Gently fold the egg and flour into the chocolate until the mixture is uniformly colored. Ladle or pour the batter into the prepared ramekins.

• To Store:

• Cover each ramekin tightly with plastic wrap and then foil and refrigerate for up to 8 hours or freeze for up to 1 month.

• To Serve:

• Preheat to 400 degrees. Unwrap the cakes frozen or refrigerated and place on rimmed baking sheet (do not thaw). Bake until cake has puffed about ½ in above the rim of the ramekins, have a thi crust on top and jiggle slightly at the center when they are shaken gently, 12-15 min if taken from freezer, 11-14 min if taken from the refrigerator. 10-13 if baking immediately from mixer.

• *Freezer is the sure way of ensuring a gooey oozing center.

  
  

  I also made this butternut squash and spinach salad with slivered almonds that I saw on epicurious. I roasted cubes of butternut squash at 450 with diced red onion, bacon, sliced garlic, all tossed with olive oil and a little salt. The vinaigrette recipe was olive oil and lemon juice but I added more lemon juice, added dijon, s&p and a splash of maple syrup. I'd definitely make this again. A perfect fall salad. I only have a couple more days of fall cooking before winter arrives ;)