Did that get your attention?
Today I thought I would share about the best chocolate dessert I have ever made. I figured if you are reading my blog, you must be somewhat of a kindred spirit, so there is probably a 95% chance that you love chocolate.
This recipe messes up quite a few pans, and seems fancy, but really, it is very easy and does not have many ingredients. It doesn't take too long to make-unless you are taking pictures of every stop along the way like I did.
Preheat oven to 350°
You will need these ingredients:
- 1 pound dark chocolate, like bittersweet or semi-sweet, chopped [not unsweetened]
- 9 Tablespoons butter [1 stick plus one 1 T, plus a bit to butter the ramekins]
- 5 large eggs, separated
- pinch salt
- 4 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
- 8 [5-6 oz] ramekins or small baking dishes; cups could work
Cut off four strips of foil, a bit bigger than your ramekins, and lay them on top of each other. Put one ramekin upside down and push into foils strips to make a dent. Do this twice, so that you can cut out 8 ramekin caps from the four strips of foil. Cut out about 1/2" around the dented area, making little caps for the ramekins.
Butter ramekins. and set aside. Cut up the butter and chop the chocolate.
Put them in a microwave safe bowl and microwave until melted. I do this at 50% power for a minute, then stir and put on another minute until done. This make take 3 minutes total. You can melt over a double-boiler if you don't have a microwave.
Remove from heat and let set 5 minutes. While cooling, separate the 5 eggs.
Mix the egg yolks and the salt together and whisk till combined. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate, mixing well.
In a mixing bowl, beat the 5 egg whites at medium speed on an electric mixer. Beat till they hold soft peaks. Add the 4 1/2 T sugar and whip till they become glossy peaks.
Put a pot of water on to boil. You will make a hot water bath for the Monkeys.
Beat 1/4 of whipped whites into the chocolate mixture by hand to lighten the batter.
Then scrape the chocolate mixture into the remaining whites in the mixing bowl and fold in, gently, but thoroughly--till you don't see any white remaining.
Divide the batter into the buttered ramekins.
Put a foil cap on each one, seal around the edges and put in a pan. [I use a creme brulee pan because it has a nice little rack and it is easy to take the Monkeys out of the water bath. But, before I got this pan, I just put the ramekins in a cake pan and that worked fine.]
Pour in boiling water, about 1/2 way up the ramekins. Be sure the foil caps do not hang down in the water.
Put in oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven, remove Monkeys from water bath, put on cooling rack and remove foil caps.
They will be gooey to the touch. Cool uncovered for 1 hour. Top with whipped cream or ice cream before eating. We eat them right out of the ramekins, but you may want to unmold them.
Monkeys can be made four hours ahead and kept in ramekins at room temperature. Dip in hot water for 10-15 seconds to unmold. If you leave them at room temp, you can eat them the next day. I usually put it in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up a bit.
These desserts are delicious. They are basically individual chocolate souffles.
Enjoy!
If you have questions, let me know.
Take care,
Jill
To check out my Pumpkin Scone recipe on my other blog.
