A Gilt Nutmeg

We’ve had a bit of a cold snap the last few days here in SoCal and I found myself craving hot chocolate-but not the wimpy hot chocolate that comes as packaged dust that you dump out of an envelope.  No, I wanted rich, thick, almost-could-eat-it-with-a-spoon hot chocolate.  Wouldn’t you know, that with just the right recipe you CAN eat hot chocolate with a spoon?

This dessert is baked just long enough so that it forms a bit of a cake-y crust on top, a layer of fudgy pudding like chocolate underneath that, and then at the bottom is molten hot chocolate just waiting to be spooned up out of the cup.  You can certainly toast a marshmallow and put it on top, but this dessert is so rich, you’re going to want a little bit of lightly sweetened whipped cream instead to cut that richness.

Enjoy in front of a fire and with a good book!

Baked Hot Chocolate
Adapted from The Wall Street Journal
Serves 4

• 8oz high-quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• topping -whipped cream or marshmallows

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat a large pot of water until simmering; place a large metal mixing bowl on top of the pot and dump in the chocolate and butter.  Stir every so often until the mixture is completely melted and smooth.  Set the bowl aside and leave pot of water simmering.
3. In a medium metal mixing bowl, set it on top of the large large pot of water; add the eggs and sugar and mix until thoroughly combined.  Heat it over the simmering water until it’s warm to the touch (I literally just stuck my finger into the mixture and said, “yup, that’s warm” and called it good).  Remove the bowl from the pot of simmering water and turn the burner under the water off, since you won’t need it anymore.
4. With an electric mixer, beat the egg mixture for 5 full minutes.  It should be very light in color and very frothy by the time you’re done.
5. Fold the egg mixture into the chocolate.  It may take a little longer than normally folding in egg whites takes, but you’ll see the egg mixture start to tint brown with the chocolate and you’ll know you’re making progress.  Make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl thoroughly so you don’t miss any of the chocolate-y goodness.
6. When the eggs are fully incorporated into the chocolate, spoon the mixture evenly into 4 oven proof coffee cups.
7. Arrange the coffee cups in a large roasting pan and fill the pan with water until it reaches 1/2 way up the sides of the coffee cups.
8. Bake for 12-15 minute, until the tops are just baked into a cake like crust.  I know I overbaked mine (I did mine for 20 minutes) a bit, and I think in this case it’s better to err on the less time rather than more time in the oven.
9. When done baking, remove the pan from the oven and place the cups on a wire cooling rack until you can pick the cups up with your hand and not burn yourself.
10. Serve while the cake is still warm, with the topping of your choice.  Enjoy!