Chocolate volcano

more Saturday:

I didn't mention the chocolate volcano in today's blog, and that felt like cheating. When I made the mixture for chocolate fondants yesterday the recipe said it made 6. I guess my little ramekins are smaller than the chef's because I made 9 -- and I'm glad they weren't bigger because they were extremely rich and very filling. His way, they would have 50 grams of chocolate and 50 grams of butter in each one, plus the eggs and sugar etc. Not that I'm arguing that mine are much lower in fat! But for Christmas I am going to look for even smaller ramekins and make the 12 I need from the recipe instead of making a double batch.

So, you make them ahead of time and chill them before cooking, and I cooked 5 yesterday when dad was here which left 4 for tonight. I knew they weren't very healthy but it would be a waste to throw them out, right? Hmmm. The second time I was better at judging when they were ready -- the recipe says 9 minutes which is completely ridiculous, even with our hot oven they were still almost completely liquid at that stage -- and with raspberries cascading down the sides and the chocolate middle oozing out they are like little volcanos, hence my name for them.

I started tracking my calories today and did pretty well, until it came to that damn chocolate volcano which I estimate to be about 600 calories. Ouch. Lots and lots of saturated fat, too. These are not even a "sometimes food", they are a "once a year food". The smaller Christmas ones will be about 450. Um, plus ice cream.

No, I am not trying to look thinner by making everyone around me fat! I promise!