chunky peanut, chocolate, and cinnamon cookies

i have finally settled back into new york city after a really great holiday vacation in san diego, san francisco, and sonoma. and now i have just a little more than two and a half weeks before i leave for nigeria.

it's a strange feeling not having a place to report to. since i can remember, i have always had to - in theory, folks - be at work or in class. but now, in between a few school papers due and and a couple of travel-related errands, i really have nothing to do.

i guess i should cherish this downtime, but i have heard i will have lots of it in abuja!! so i decided to take the next two weeks and bake every day. all those things i have wanted to try again and get right, all those bookmarked blogs, and tagged book pages. of course, i can't get to it all, but there is really no excuse to start having fun again in the kitchen.



so sit back and enjoy the treats. my first bake is by request of mr. mimi: chunky peanut, chocolate, and cinnamon cookies. honestly, i hardly tasted any cinnamon, but they were still very good. i did add the vanilla in with the wet ingredients instead of at the end (as instructed) because it just seemed very weird to me to do otherwise.

i used the recipe from her book, in which she suggests that you can make ahead and bake-off when needed. simply form the dough into 1-inch balls, flatten them slightly, freeze them on cookie sheets until firm. keep in resealable plastic bags for up to one month. i froze about 3/4 of the dough and baked some off last night. i love that i have cookies waiting for me in the freezer!

for the online version, click here.

twd: chocolate-chocolate cupcakes, boo-yah!

for this week's tuesdays with dorie, clara from the wonderful i heart food for thought chose chocolate-chocolate cupcakes and gently suggested doing a halloween theme for decoration.

there had been some lengthy discussion about the texture and crumb being dry, with lots of talk about ratios and flour weights. i don't think there are any "fool-proof" recipes (especially for baking) so i tend to think that any discrepancies mainly occur because of differences in conditions, particularly in the oven. so i decided to proceed as written, but keeping a careful watch on the baking time. i checked in 16 minutes and the toothpick came out wet; only 2 more minutes and it came out completely dry.



the result? well first, the batter was soo good! that bowl hardly had to go in the dishwasher i cleaned it so well myself - no shame!

and the cupcake? amazing! moist and chocolately. i did not have any problem with it being a crummy dry crumb. i suspect that was related to my 18 minutes baking, compared to dorie's written 22-25 minutes. i would've preferred a chocolate buttercream, but that's just me (or is it you, too?)

i wasn't at all creative in the halloween department. but do you ever need a pretty reason to eat a chocolately chocolate cupcake??

for the recipe, please click here!

banana chocolate nut bread

does anyone make banana bread because they actually want to?? or is it because they innocently forget about those last three bananas on the bunch until it's too late?

i won't point any fingers ... but here's a banana nut bread i made tonight. and because everything tastes better with chocolate, i threw in a handful of chocolate chips as well.

banana chocolate nut bread: makes two 9x5 loaves
adapted from martha's baking handbook (2005, p. 49)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
2 tb vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup (about 4 oz) walnuts, toasted and finely chopped
1/2 cup buttermilk
non-stick cooking spray

1. preheat oven to 350F. coat loaf pans with cooking spray. in large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

2. in bowl of mixer with paddle attachment, beat eggs, sugar, and vegetable oil on medium-low speed until combined. beat in flour mixture. add vanilla, banana, coconut, nuts, and buttermilk and beat just to combine.

3. divide batter evenly between pans. bake, rotating halfway through, until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 60 - 65 minutes. transfer to wire rack and let cool 10 minutes. remove loaves from pan and let cool completely.



if you find yourselves with even more ripe bananas, check out these two posts as well: classic banana bread and banana cake (from david lebovitz).

chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

yes, it's true. i missed a day. not entirely my fault as yesterday i was out of the house from the time i woke up until 3 in the morning (thanks m!)

the worst part is i LOVE lip balm. and so to hopefully make up for my lapse and to unjeopordize the receiving of said lip balm, i offer not one but two awesome chocolate treats!



first up is martha's double chocolate brownie cookies. fudgy inside, relatively crispy outside. need i say more? these are delicious, and i promise you will be sneaking them all day long.



second up is david lebovitz's black bottom cupcakes. i first saw these on smitten kitchen and totally wanted to make them. this is a bittersweet bake today because david is in new york city for a little get together at city bakery. i just couldn't manage to squeeze in a trip to manhattan this afternoon and so i missed out on meeting him. oh well, i guess it's a good excuse for another trip to paris! ;-)



but back to those cupcakes. now i know bloggers tend to be generous with the adjectives. how many things can truly be fantastic, amazing, delicious, tasty, and wonderful? but honestly, these things were incredible. it was an instant ymmm from the first bite. so moist and good! and so much fun to make!


for martha's double chocolate brownie cookies, click here (there is a comment about them not spreading. i used a scooper and plopped the dough down. they spread just fine for me.) in the book, it suggests adding 3 oz coarsely chopped walnuts.

for david's black bottom cupcakes that i found via smitten kitchen, click here.

hazelnut cinnamon chocolate biscotti

wowzers. blogging on a saturday night.

damn, this nablowrimo has got me hardcore!!

even though i love brooklyn and all the relatively new things popping up over in red hook, i am embarrassed to confess that i had never heard of baked until i read about them on smitten kitchen last month.



and now i can't escape them! i've been reading about them everywhere. and then peabody made their whoopie pies. and then i took a random visit to my local barnes & noble to find a microeconomics study book and i saw that matt and renato were scheduled to do a discussion, tasting, and book signing a couple days later.

it was fate.

so on thursday night i heard the story, ate the famous baked brownie, bought the book (full price, grrr), got it signed, and was off on my merry way dreaming about all the fun things i wanted to try.



with a bit of time to spare this afternoon, i decided i wanted to bake up some treats to share with my parents who are enjoying a weekend in the city. we were meeting them for dinner in just a short while so it needed to be something quick, easy, and portable. and a recipe that had all ingredients already in the pantry and fridge (which is more of a challenge for me than you think).



the decision? hazelnut cinnamon chocolate biscotti. i had to halve the recipe because i only had a total of 3 eggs on hand, which was a bit of a pain because of the original 1/3 and 1/4 measurements. but i figured biscotti would be forgiving in the precision department.

the verdict? sorry baked, but i wasn't wild about these. don't get me wrong, they taste very good. the cinnamon is a nice surprise. but the whole nuts were just a little too whole. and i think there is too much chocolate. i know, i know! no such thing as too much chocolate. maybe i'm just a traditionalist? or maybe i just need to wait a night and dunk them in my tea tomorrow morning for a proper analysis? keep tuned!



hazelnut cinnamon chocolate biscotti: makes 24
adapted from baked: new frontiers in baking (2008, p. 147)

1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup blanched hazelnuts, toasted and cooled
1 3/4 cup (10 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1 large egg white

1. preheat oven to 350F. line baking sheet with parchment.

2. whisk together sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. in bowl of mixer with paddle attachment, beat eggs and sugar mixture until color is uniform and mixture is thick. add vanilla and beat for 5 seconds. add flour in two batches and beat until just combined. scrape down bowl and mix for a few seconds more. add hazelnuts and chocolate chips and beat until just combined.

3. turn dough out on sheet and shape into log 16 inches long, 3 1/2 inches wide, and 3/4 inches thick. use offset spatula to smooth. bake for 20-25 minutes until firm, but not browned. let cool on pan for 10 minutes and lower oven to 325F.

4. while log is cooling, whisk egg white and 2 tb water together and brush egg wash on top of the log.

5. cut the log into 3/4 inch slices with serrated knife. note: the following method comes from martha stewart and is how i do all biscotti now. put wire rack on top of baking sheet. arrange slices, cut sides down, on rack. bake for 25 minutes (time is from original recipe). let cool and enjoy with coffee or tea!

daring bakers: i declare my love of éclairs!

if you must know - and as you can probably tell from the more than pathetic results - i did this at midnight the night before the deadline. and i am so pissed at myself because when meeta from what's for lunch honey along with tony of olive juice picked pierre hermé's classic chocolate éclairs i was so frickin' excited! does it really need explaining? i mean, doesn't everyone love éclairs? plus, i've never made the choux before, so i was definitely on to the challenge!

hmm, challenge ... by definition, doesn't that mean i shouldn't have left it the last minute? yes, i know, but stay with me here. i halved the recipe, because i'm trying to train, and having a box of fresh éclairs around was not going to help. first batch of choux came out runny after i beat in the eggs. me thinks it wasn't the eggs but that i didn't mix and heat the dough thing long enough.

i am far from even being a novice, let alone expert, in this stuff - so i had really no idea, but the reasoning sounded good at the time. so the second batch had the dough thing mixed and heated for at least 4 minutes, and this time the eggs added beautifully and i had a nice pipable dough. coincidence? who knows, i'm just happy it worked. so now they were baking good, golden brown, rising up, out of the oven ...

and the damn things deflated! and became soggy!! i think the main reason is because i left them - by mistake (see midnight baking circumstances, above) - on the hot baking sheet to cool instead of putting them on the rack. me thinks that it must need the air circulation. i also read the tip from foodbeam to poke a hole in the bottom once they're done to let the steam escape. makes perfect sense, thanks hindsight!



i wanted to cry. of course i want things i bake to come out correctly. but because this was new and because i love éclairs, i really really wanted these to come out better than ever! and now they were just soggy eggy hot dog buns!!

thankfully the over the top death by chocolate pastry cream made up for it!

so dear darling choux ... i may have failed you this time, but you have not seen the last of me, i promise i will make you proud!

and i promise if you take a look at some of my fellow daring bakers, you will be drooling to make your own éclairs today! they are an amazing group, and every time i think about dropping out of this thing (hello time management problems) i am always pulled right back in by all the gorgeous creativity they show month after month. if these lads and lassies don't inspire you as well, then i don't know what will!

chocolate hot dogs, anyone? ;)

mad for macarons

can you believe i went to paris and never ate a macaron or any other baked goods besides croissants and baguettes? no macarons??! well, two years ago i hated sweets. and now i can't get enough of them. i still don't love sweets, but i am in love with trying them.

actually, now that i write that ... can you believe that two years ago i never even heard of a macaron? the horror!

and of course, some of my favorite bloggers are the queens of sweets, and since then i've learned what they are and seen the most beautiful macarons ever. so when minko over at couture cupcakes announced a mad for macarons event, i was instantly excited! here was my chance to try baking the wonderful loveliness that every one adores and which i have never had!

after hemming and hawing with whose macaron recipe to try first, i decided to go with david lebovitz's chocolate version. why not? i have a blog crush on monsieur lebovitz and the idea of chocolately meringuey almondy cookies sounded delish.

and for my first ever batch of macarons, i'm pretty happy. not ecstatic, because they didn't really come out correctly. but happy that i tried them and more than happy that they taste absolutely delish.



i got the cute little feet on my macarons, but the majority of them cracked on the top, as you can see in the tray above. the optimist could reason that i did them right, but some messed up. or the realist could argue that i f*cked them up, and was lucky to get a few to come out nicely. but either way, i would really love it if any of you more experienced macaroners could clue me in to what might have been wrong?



because i've never had a macaron, let alone an excellent one, i don't know what to compare mine to. basically the filling was lovely (although i think i may have not put enough on) and the cookie crust was thin, not really crisp, but like a thin shell, and the inside was soft. i don't know, it's hard to describe it properly (or maybe les adjectifs français serve this purpose better.) the taste was oh so chocolatey and the smell of these were just amazing.

next time, and oh yes there will definitely be a next time, i would like to sift my almond meal even a little bit finer to get a smoother shell. and pipe out my batter a little more evenly in size and shape so i can actually match tops and bottoms!

but this macaron virgin is now officially in love. i can't wait to visit paris again to get the real thing.



for david lebovitz's recipe, click here and you won't be disappointed!

for a description of french macarons, i really like this write up.

the daring baker that wasn't ... but here are some peanut butter chocolate cookies instead :)

there's no excuse her ladies and gents. it just didn't get done. along with the human rights paper that i am totally dragging my arse on.

but that doesn't mean it won't get done! i HAVE to finish my paper this weekend and i WILL make that opera cake!

got. to. get. it. together. ugh.

but in the meantime, please go check out hundreds of other more worthy daring bakers than i and their beautiful opera cakes of all shapes and flavors. and for a little sweet to tide you over, here are some chunky cookies i made awhile ago. super easy, super delish!





chunky peanut, chocolate, and cinnamon cookies: makes 5 dozen
from martha's website (click here)

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cups roasted, salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
2 tsp vanilla

1. preheat oven to 350F. whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.

2. put butter and peanut butter in bowl of mixer with paddle attachment and mix on medium until combined, about 2 minutes. add sugars and mix another 2 minutes. mix in eggs. gradually add flour mixture; mix until just combined. fold in chocolate chips, peanuts, and vanilla. refrigerate until slightly firm, 15 minutes.

3. roll dough into 1 inch balls. space about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. flatten slightly (i didn't, wanted them more humped). bake until just golden, 13 minutes. transfer to wire rack to cool.

martha said to serve these with ice cream ... and who was i to ignore her instructions! ;)

brownie cookies with ice cream

who can resist a blog post with a title like that??!



but really, i can't take the credit. even though i have never met deb of smitten kitchen, she has single handedly absolutely positively brought back one of my best childhood memories. no kidding.


and i can't even remember the details! but i do remember loving carvel's flying saucers. actually, weren't their commercials so cute with fudgie the whale and cookie puss? and that green shamrock guy? they'd float around and mr. carvel would narrate with that funny voice. ahhh ... but i digress.

those flying saucers. they came in packs of 6 in that long plastic box. i remember looking into the cooler, past all the fancy new things with nuts or sprinkles. all i wanted was the plain jane flying saucer.



and now i think i have them. these brownie roll-out cookies are certainly good enough on their own. but try it with some ice cream. i promise you'll be swooning.

i halved the recipe, but accidentally mis-calculated the amount of cocoa powder and ended up putting in nearly the full amount. i used dutch process so i wasn't too worried, and all was well, they just came out dark and chocolatey. not too bad a result for a so-called "mistake" :)





brownie roll-out cookies
from smitten kitchen (click here)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 stick salted, 1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup dutch process cocoa

1. preheat oven to 350F. whisk flour, salt, and baking powder in bowl and set aside. mix butter, sugar eggs, vanilla, and cocoa in mixer. gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth. wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.

2. on floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/4" thick. cut into desired shapes. bake on parchment lined sheet for 8-11 minutes, until edges are firm and centers are slightly soft and puffed.

3. transfer to wire rack to cool. scoop a little vanilla ice cream on a cookie, and top with another cookie. swoon away to flying saucer heaven!

mm: almond-mocha roulade

martha, martha, martha! i mostly love your baking recipes, but this time you slightly drove me crazy.

i wouldn't describe this roulade as either easy or that difficult. but it was all very new to me, so i felt like each step was a learning process. when the learning went smoothly, how terrific! and when it didn't ... well, cursing out martha seemed better than getting into a fight with my darling mr. mimi. but for the purpose of full disclosure, the truth is ... i cursed out the book AND got into an "out of the kitchen, now!" fight. oh yeah, make your ever first mousse at midnight and see what happens ;)


since i don't feel quite like myself if i don't find 100 random reasons to procrastinate, it was friday afternoon when i realized that i would have to make all three of my daring bakers, tuesdays with dorie, and martha mondays baking challenges this weekend - ack! let's get going!

first, what is "espresso powder"? uhh, i hate coffee, so i had no idea. i bought some fresh ground italian roast at the lovely neighborhood leaf and bean but then i realized i need instant espresso, and this was brew. fine, forget the mocha in the mousse, i hate coffee anyway. i decided to make an almond mousse. disaster number one ... against my instincts i read in another recipe to add the almond extract to the chocolate. it may have used a different method than martha's (i can't remember, maybe the chocolate was already added to something else?) but i went and added the extract. go ahead, guess what happened. it tightened up to a big ball of no you didn't just add some liquid to this tempered chocolate. frick. next time, listen to you instincts!

but disaster number two was all of martha's making (plus a wee bit of not listening to instincts after the fact). in her mousse recipe, the sugar gets heated. then it says, take off heat. then it says, whip the egg yolks for 3 minutes. then add the sugar in steady stream. hmm, i bet you can guess what happened. sure enough the sugar hardened up. and unfortunately instead of listening to my nagging this isn't going to work doubts, i decided to try to scrape it in. yes, of course it didn't work!! by that time, now it really was midnight. but i refused to let this one get by me!!

so i went ahead and did it all over again. and wow of wowzers. i have never made mousse before and this was chocolately and creamy and fluffy. i could have just eaten this on its own, licking right out of the bowl.

but the next day i went ahead and made the cake. in the morning i did go out and buy some instant espresso, and so decided to make the cake as written.

and after that, how was the taste? as delish as the original martha photo enticingly predicted, and truly worth every minute of making (or re-making) it. i was going to bring it in to work. but alas, some pieces may just have to stay home with us ;)



thanks for reading this too-long post. here is the recipe, enjoy! if you also joined me for this martha monday, please email me and i'll get a link up here for you!

update: zakia at frosted bakeshop made a beautiful blackberry roulade and alexandra over at addicted sweet tooth created a lovely chocolate roulade. please go visit their yummy looking cakes! and we'd love to have you join us next time ...

so for the next round of martha mondays ... i'm going all pro-choice! pick any recipe from a current magazine issue and post on monday may 12. it can be sweet or savory. if you don't want to buy her magazine, you can find some recipes from current issues here.

almond-mocha roulade: serves many or few, depending on your mood
adapted from martha's baking handbook (2005, p. 187)

for mousse:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tb boiling water + 1 tb water
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
2 tb light corn syrup
4 large egg yolks

1. whip cream to soft peaks, cover with plastic and refrigerate. in double boiler, melt chocolate. heat water (in the original, hot water was used for espresso. wasn't sure if this would change the consistency. so i used half the amount of water just in case).

2. with whisk attachment, beat yolks on medium speed until lightened, about 3 minutes. in the meantime (but not too far in advance), in small saucepan, bring sugar, corn syrup, and 1 tb water to boil over medium heat, until 238F.

3. with mixer still on medium, slowly pour in sugar syrup. change to high speed and beat about 2 minutes more, until ribbon like trail holds for 2 seconds when whisk is lifted.

4. beat in melted chocolate, extracts, and water to combine. gently fold in the chilled whip cream until well combined. refrigerate overnight.

for cake (bake cake same day as you assemble it):
1/4 cup dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted (plus more for dusting)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tb instant espresso powder
1 tb hot water
6 eggs, separated, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar

1. preheat oven to 325F. line a 17 x 12 inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. dust a large, clean kitchen towel with cocoa and set aside. sift together cocoa and flour, and in small bowl stir together the espresso and water. set aside.

2. with whisk attachment, beat egg yolks on high until thick and pale (with ribbon trail) about 5 minutes. transfer to large bowl, set aside.

3. with whisk attachment, whip egg whites on low speed until foamy. raise to medium-high, and add sugar in slow steady stream. beat until stiff peaks form.

4. fold a third of egg-white mixture into egg-yolk mixture to lighten. gently fold in remaining egg whites until just combined. fold in espresso mixture, then gradually fold in cocoa mixture. do not overmix.

folding eggs, espresso, and cocoa

5. pour batter onto prepared sheet, spread evenly and smooth. bake, rotating halfway through, for 10-12 minutes until cake springs back when lightly touched. immediately place prepared towel on top, turn over, lift off pan and gently peel off parchment. starting on long side, roll towel and cake into log, incorporating towel as you go. transfer to cooling rack, seam side down, and cool completely.

6. unroll cake. spread almond mousse evenly. gently roll cake again and wrap with the towel. refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hours. slice with serrated knife.

daring bakers: cheesecake pops

can i tell you the truth? when i first read this month's challenge, i was kinda like meh. i just wasn't that into it. which is weird because i love me some new york cheesecake. but the whole "pops" part wasn't doing it for me, pops-shmops, whatever.

well darn it if i didn't tell you now that these are not only delish, but so fun to make! (yeah, okay a bit messy but isn't that what made it fun?!) i halved the recipe and still came out with tons. i used the dark chocolate dip, with the usual sprinkles, dots, and some chopped almonds.


so a real thanks to elle at feeding my enthusiasms and deborah at taste and tell for picking this gem! i love to be given a chance to push beyond what i think i would like and find out how very wrong my assumptions can be.


i've only just recently joined the daring bakers, but each and every time i am so impressed by how drop dead gorgeous and creative they make these challenges. all they need is one single recipe and you get hundreds of different, beautiful treats to enjoy. so please, go visit everyone else and have a truly terrific poptastic daring baker sunday!

swiss orange chocolate cupcakes

i work full-time five days a week. i go to school three days a week. including school and gym classes or tennis lessons, i don't get back home until past 9 o'clock at five nights a week. add all of that to my renowned lack of time management skills, and it is rare that i actually have any leisurely spent afternoons on the weekends.

yesterday afternoon, after the morning spent running errands, and before our friends would arrive in the evening, the most sensible thing would be to relax on the couch with mr. mimi as he watched in perennial disappointment as the maine went down.


but ladies and gents, i have caught the baking bug and the fever is running high. two or three hours down time? sure, that's all i need. i just NEED to bake something, anything. i need to measure, mix, whip, crack, fold, and pour.

and i had leftover buttermilk burning a hole in my fridge. so i dreamed and salivated around the daring bakers until i found a recipe with buttermilk and all the other ingredients on hand.



so here they are, quick and easy. i omitted the chocolate glaze because i only had regular size chocolate chips, so the cakes were quite chocolatey already (okay, okay, the real reason was because i was lazy). i forgot to dust the chips with a little flour so they wouldn't all sink in baking, but let's not get picky. they were delicious and buttery. almost too buttery. is there such a thing? :)

for the recipe, click here. thanks to mary at alpineberry!

twd: gooey chocolate cake

because i can't just get enough, i've just signed up for tuesdays with dorie. my first recipe was for gooey chocolate cake, a perennial favorite of chocoholics everywhere! good luck for mr. mimi, as he, too, very much likes this dessert.

this recipe is super easy to whip up, and more than likely you already have all the standard ingredients on hand. because it's so easy, this would make a great dinner party dessert.


we ate them right away, but i think thirteen minutes was a bit too long in the oven. it was very soft and slightly gooey inside, but it wasn't the real gooey lava. next time, i would probably cut off a minute or two (or three).

but with that said, we served them up with a scoop of soy ice cream (to make us feel just a wee less indulgent) and they were delish!! although not very photogenic :)

gooey chocolate cakes: serves 6
adapted from dorie's baking from my home to yours (2006, p. 261)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tb unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 stick butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tb of sugar

1. preheat oven to 400F. spray 6 cups of a regular size muffin pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out excess. i used the disposable aluminum foils (as recommended by dorie) so that they would pop out easier.

2. sift the flour, cocoa. and salt together.

3. set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. remove the bowl from the pan of water.

4. in a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. slowly and lightly stir in the melted chocolate and butter. divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

5. bake the cakes for 13 minutes (i suggest a shorter time if you want real gooey cakes). transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes.

6. unmold cakes onto dessert plates and serve with a glass of milk or scoop of ice cream!