Chocolate Lava Cake:
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
4 oz (one stick) of butter
3 eggs
1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
cocoa powder
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 4 large ramekins and "flour" them w/ the cocoa powder. Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave (watch carefully!) or a double boiler. Whisk eggs, sugar, and flour until just blended.
Next (this is the trickiest part), gradually add a little bit of the hot chocolate/butter mix to the egg mix and whisk briskly. It is really important to tempter the egg mixture slowly this way--if you do this step too fast or toss too much of the chocolate into the eggs, then the heat of the chocolate will cook the eggs and you'll get scrambled eggs. So add a few tablespoons of the chocolate and whisk it in, then repeat, two or three times. Then the eggs should be up to the same temp and you can just add the rest of the chocolate mix in and whisk it all together.
Once it's all mixed, pour into the ramekins. Put on a cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes--the sides should be firm-ish and the tops should look done, but a toothpick in the center should NOT come out clean (otherwise you have no lava). The cook time is a bit flexible. Depending on how lava-y you like it, you can cook it longer or shorter. I would recommend keeping an eye on it around the twelve minute mark and go a minute at a time. They will continue to cook for a few minutes after you take them out of the oven, so keep that in mind. They might look a little too undercooked, but then you let them sit and they are good to go after a few minutes.
Serve warm for most deliciousness. Mmmm...
