Did someone say, "Molten Chocolate Cake"?

Ok, if you know me at all, you know that I love chocolate.  Specifically, dark chocolate.

Recently, I have been experimenting with different gluten-free flours and being winter here, I have been craving warm chocolaty desserts.  I wanted to satisfy that craving with something that wouldn't cause me any digestion issues.  Well,  the cake that I have come up with, and presented to you here, is something I think you'll really enjoy.  Every time that I've made it, it has come out beautifully (and I might add, delicious).  My husband agrees that it is the best yet, so I thought I'd share it with you.  

The first thing you will notice is that this chocolate molten cake is gluten-free.  I achieve this by ditching the regular flour and using chestnut flour instead.  Chestnut flour can be purchased at most health food or whole food type stores.  I got mine from a little fresh grocer in Winston Hills Mall (for those that don't know, that's in NSW Australia). This type of flour is fine, mixes easily, and adds a slight nutty taste. Add that to the dark chocolate and you have an instant hit.

Rebecca's Dark Chocolate Lava Cake

Serves: 2
Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

• 2 TBSP unsalted butter, plus more for the ramekins
• 2 ounces dark chocolate, broken into pieces (don't skimp on the chocolate... use a good quality brand) plus two small squares
• 1/3 cup icing sugar, plus more for the ramekins
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 tsp finely ground espresso
• pinch salt
• 3 TBSP chestnut flour
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• berries of your choice

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F or 200 degrees C.  Butter two 6-ounce ramekins, then dust with icing sugar.

• Place butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 20-30 seconds.  Stir and microwave again in 15 second intervals until the chocolate has melted completely and mixed with the butter.  Let cool slightly.

• In a different, small bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, espresso powder, salt and flour.  Slowly stream in melted chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined.

• Pour batter into previously prepared ramekins.  Place one small piece of chocolate into the center of each ramekin.

• Bake for exactly 10 minutes.  A toothpick inserted 1/2 inch from the edge of the ramekin should come out clean.  DO NOT OVER-BAKE.  Your cake should look something like this. The centre is obviously still soft and liquidly.

• Cool for about 5 minutes.  Run a knife around the inside of the ramekin to loosen and invert the cake into a serving bowl.  Add berries of your choice and a dollop of whipped cream.  I used strawberries here but it's equally good with pitted cherries or raspberries.  Whatever berry you want!

What you'll end up with is the most decadent, wonderful, chocolaty dessert known to man and your bowl will resemble the following photo.

A couple of side notes: You can prepare the batter ahead of time and refrigerate up to 1 day without any ill effects. I have successfully done this and noticed that the espresso taste becomes more noticeable, but only slightly. Also, you can double or triple the recipe to make more but you may need to adjust the cooking time slightly. Just watch it closely to ensure it doesn't burn.

Try it and let me know how it turns out for you.

Bon Appetit!

Healthy Heart Cookbook by the American Medical Association

Hello fellow Foodies!  Today, I am reviewing the cookbook "Healthy Heart Cookbook" by the American Medical Association.

The front cover says that it is a cookbook for healthy living.  The first 25 or so pages covers topics from understanding & fighting heart disease, nutritional information & goal setting, activity & exercise, and ends with a section of foods that fight heart disease.  I particularly like that last section because it provides you examples of a food  (such as nuts & seeds) and informs you of what it contains (plant sterols) and how it benefits you (lower cholesterol levels).

The cookbook section contains:

• Starters, soups & salads
• Main dishes
• Side dishes
• Desserts & snacks

The very last pages contain not only the index, but a nifty "Ingredients & Techniques" section that help you understand what terms such as al dente, braising, and zest mean. It also tells you how to peel a mango and what other types of foods stuffs are used for.  

The first recipe that I would like to share with you is Hoppin' John.  It's an old-fashioned recipe with plenty of wholesome goodness in it. Even though it takes about an hour to cook, it is very very easy to make.  

Clicking on this recipe should enlarge it for you.

The first thing that you should notice is that it has five stars which, according to my rating scale, means that this is the best food ever! 

Normally, I will follow a recipe to the letter but I have perfected the way I cook this one with a few small changes. Firstly, I don't actually add any salt as I use prepared chicken broth which always contains plenty of salt. The next thing I do differently is that I will cook the black-eyed peas, without the rice, for only 15 minutes instead of the stated 30.  The reason is that my rice always takes a little longer than 30 minutes to cook and I don't want to over cook my black-eyed peas.  The last thing that I do differently is cook the rice in with the black-eyed peas for 40 minutes, not 30 for reasons explained above.  This particular recipe calls for mustard greens or spinach and I have always used fresh baby spinach as I like the mellower flavour of spinach.  

My finished product.

Just perfect with a little hot pepper sauce.

You could add bacon or something like that to this meal but I like it just the way it is. You might notice that I have a type of bread product on my plate here. That is my attempt at home made gluten free cornbread. It is wonderfully delicious and quite spicy (it has jalapenos in it). When I get the recipe developed with the best possible combination of ingredients, I will share it on a later blog.  ;)

The next recipe I would like to share is "Southwestern Chicken Soup".  

This is a photo from the book, reprinted with permission.

Clicking on this recipe should enlarge it for you.

Once again... five stars!  This recipe comes out of the Starters, Soups, and Salads section but my husband and I will eat it as a main meal. It is just the thing for a cold evening when you want something fast and easy but delicious.

Something that you should have noticed is that the bottom of both of these recipes have the nutrient analysis for one serving. This is really handy for those of us watching our intake of calories, carbs, or fat.

While this is not a large cookbook, it is a good one. I have enjoyed many of the recipes that I have made from it and I believe you will too. Give it a try and let me know what you think.