Constitutional Cooking: thickfreakness

I'm not sure what it was about today - it could have been the fact that I hate attorneys and have for the past two weeks (not all, but many). Could have been that I have two TOTALLY unwarranted, baseless, and - dare I say it - possibly unconstitutional parking tickets that I will likely have to pay anyway. Could have been the information that, this week, my love is taking the first practical and tangible step to move far, far away from me for the next two years. All of the above, perhaps? Regardless, tonight was the night that I decided it was time to make Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes.

You know them. They are a staple on the dessert menus of finer dining establishments, often served with vanilla ice cream and a berry glaze. They are so rich and delicious, yet surprisingly easy to make. Thank you to MSK (aka Pistorius to his Latin-speaking colleagues) for the recipe. M has been a pastry chef of note since our college days when his bread machine would crank out goodness every Sunday night for a snack while we all watched X-Files. Clearly, those were the days before carb-conscious eating.

Here's the recipe:
1/4 C unsalted butter
12 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/2 C sugar
4 eggs beaten with a pinch of salt
1 t vanilla
1/3 C flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt the butter over low heat; add the chocolate. When both are melted together, add the sugar and blend well. Add the eggs/salt, blend them too. Add the vanilla and flour, stir it up real good.

I licked this later.

Ready for the goodness.

Dish out the batter into your custard cups. I spritzed mine with cooking spray to go for a non-stick exit. Cooking time will vary with the depth of your ramekin. 10 mins was too short for this depth in my oven. 15 minutes just about did it. Here's what happened when I took one out at 10 mins: