Granola Cookies

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Lately I have been on a slight cookie bender. I think the people in my lab find this quite exciting. What happens most of the time is that I throw random things together and hope for the best. Generally this works really well (at least according to Torsten and Gina who I share an office with). Sometimes we learn things the hard way. Like that replacing all the granulated sugar in your cookie recipe with rapadura sugar is a stupid idea. Or that leftover peppermint bark pieces added to chocolate chip cookies is like my least favourite flavour of all times. Oh well.
Anyhow…a few weeks ago I made the granola cookies Todd and Diane wrote about on White on Rice Couple. And then I made them again. And again. And whenever someone in the lab hears the telltale rattling of my super awesome royal-wedding cookie tin they ask whether I have made the granola cookies again. 
So, what else can I tell you about these cookies. I think they are best still slightly warm. Depending on how long you bake them they are either still chewy or really nice and crispy. Because you soak the dried fruit in booze before you make them I have never managed to bake them so they were actually 'dry' (and I went for something resembling a member of the Jersey Shore cast in one batch because I completely forgot that I was actually baking cookies). The original recipe calls for rum or kaluha. I don't like kaluha for anything other than white russians and I didn't have any rum in the house so the first time I used bourbon and it was really really nice. A few batches later I moved onto southern comfort and I think that is what I'll keep using - the spices work really well with the dried fruit and give the cookies a bit of a kick.
Oh, and instead of apricots I'm using dates (cos dried apricots are evil and vile and gross…and I'm that grown-up…) and raisins but I have been thinking about using dried cherries for a while. I think they would be really nice. 
Are you convinced yet?
Make some cookies! :)

Granola Cookies (adapted from Porter & Chu)
70g dried, pitted Dates
70g Raisins
Enough Bourbon, Southern Comfort, Rum, or whatever else you like to cover the fruit
60g Walnuts
60g Almonds
155g Flour
1tsp Bicarb
1/2 tsp Salt
180g steel-cut Oats
170g Butter, at room temperature
175g Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
125g dark Chocolate Chips
125g white Chocolate Chips

Preheat your oven to 175˚C.
Cut the dates into 1cm pieces, put them into a small bowl with the raisins and cover them with booze.
Toast the nuts until they are starting to brown and your kitchen smells amazing. 
In a medium sized bowl mix the flour, bicarb, salt and oats and set aside.
Don't forget about the oven - take the nuts out of the oven and allow them to cool before you either chop them coarsely or simply crush them a bit using your fingers (you can probably guess which approach I favour).
Take out a larger mixing bowl or your fancy kitchen aid mixer bowl and beat the butter for a minute or so until it starts to fluff up a bit, add the sugar and keep beating for another two minutes or so. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and give things another 4 minutes or so. What all of this does is incorporate more air into the mixture and bond the sugar and butter together (at least that's what I'm told). Irrespective of how this whole thing works, what it does is give your cookies a certain lightness while also giving you crispy edges and an amazingly chewy centre. So ignore the fact that you are probably dying from boredom, listen to one of those new super long Justin Timberlake songs and you will barely notice all that waiting :)
Ideally the butter-mixture should have nearly doubled in size and will look a lot paler than before.
Switch to a spatula or wooden spoon so you don't overmix in the next few steps. 
Stir in the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Then add the chocolate chips, nuts, and boozy fruit (without the remaining liquid - save that to make a drink or dip the cookies into it later or whatnot). 
Scoop two tablespoons of dough (what I do is use my tablespoon measure and scoop up enough dough so it forms a dome on top of the filled spoon that is the same size) per cookie onto a cookie sheet, leaving about 3cm between them. I can normally fit 18 cookies onto my full-size baking sheet if that helps with the spacing between the cookies at all.
Bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until the cookies are starting to brown. 
Don't even think about letting the cookies cool completely, give them a few minutes before you transfer some of them onto a wire-rack, then eat the others while they are still warm on the inside.
I hope you have a fantastic rest of your weekend!
You could make some cookies :)

Mini Chocolate Cakes (avec gooey centre) for Sonja

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Some people have told me that it's the friends you make in college that stay your friends for life. I've met some amazing people both during my time as an undergraduate and as a graduate student, but to me it feels like that diminishes the bond you have with some of your high-school friends. You know, the friends who knew you before you got highlights and lost weight and started using probably too much make-up. Yeah, those friends. My friend Sonja is one of those people I became friends with, let me think...I guess nearly 11 years ago. Even though we haven't lived in the same country for the better part of 8 years now (why do people have to move abroad when I decide to move back?!?!) we've kept in touch (thank you, Skype!). 

Anyhow, it's Sonja's birthday today and a while ago she asked me whether I could write a recipe for her. 

Something with chocolate.

Something 'like those mini cakes [I] used to make, those with the gooey centre' (ok, that was a fairly loose translation of the fb message that started this whole thing).

So let's talk about those mini cakes Sonja was talking about.

They're from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess and apparently I made them when I came back home one summer. I think.

They're pretty much chocolate with some eggs, butter, sugar, and flour to hold the chocolate together and you can even make them after a lacrosse game (only potentially still in your sports clothes) while dreaming of all the things you'll eat afterwards. I obviously didn't do any of that because I'm all grown up and organised and whatnot.

Anyhow, let's make some mini chocolate cakes (a.k.a. mini chocolate-mousse-soufflé thingies with a molten chocolate centre).

Note - the original recipe leaves you with mini cakes, I tend to keep them in the ramekins I use to bake them in and eat them like a chocolate soufflé. If you would rather have them sitting on a plate, butter your ramekins and cut out some baking parchment to line the bottoms. Both versions are super easy.

Mini Chocolate Cakes after Nigella Lawson's recipe - enough for 2 cakes

15g Butter

90g Dark Chocolate (use nice chocolate here since it's the main ingredient)

45g Sugar

1 Egg

Pinch of Salt

1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

15g Flour

Preheat your oven 200˚C and heat a baking sheet in the oven.

Melt the chocolate and set it aside to cool. Beat the egg with the salt until it is somewhat frothy. Cream the butter and sugar, then start adding the egg, followed by the vanilla extract. Mix in the flour until well combined. Add the chocolate to the mixture, make sure everything is properly mixed.

Pour the batter into the ramekins and place them in the oven for 10 minutes. 

Nigella suggests tipping them out straight away and eating them with some whipped cream, unwhipped cream, crème fraiche, crème anglaise or ice cream. I really like them slightly cooled just as they are.

Sonja, I hope this cures any chocolate cravings you might have while writing! I wish I could celebrate your birthday with you!

Velvety Beetroot Chocolate Brownies

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If the thought of beetroot in baked goods leaves you somewhat bewildered, let me tell you one thing - whoever first used beetroot in brownies was a genius! They are velvety, super chocolatey, sweet but not excessively so and they are also quite pretty. I think they even beat the double chocolate ones and the vegan ones. And I would say they are about equally awesome as the aubergine chocolate cake. And they are adapted from a recipe from the same cookbook (Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache). A couple of years ago a few of us in St Andrews were somewhat obsessed with this book. All the cakes in it are made with vegetables (mostly root vegetables) and the all have an amazing texture and taste even better. Most of them actually taste way better than their non-vegetable cousins.
Beets, carrots and courgettes lend these cakes structure and airiness and a sweetness that you don't really get when you are using normal sugar. For those of you who like using agave syrup for baking. I feel like the effect is similar to the one you get when you replace sugar with dark agave in a cake.
Anyhow....I made these brownies after a long day at work. When I came home I found a couple of beets looking at me wanting to be eaten but I had no motivation whatsoever to roast them so I chopped them up, stuck them in the microwave and made some brownies. And after brownie number two I felt like it had been a good day after all :)

Velvety Beetroot Chocolate Brownies (adapted from Harry Eastwood)
400g Raw Beetroot (weigh them after peeled, topped and tailed them)
100g Almond Meal
3 Eggs
220g Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
150g Cooking Chocolate (the dark kind)
70g Cocoa Powder
2 tbsp Potato Flour or other kind of starch (rice or corn will work just as well)
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat your oven to 160˚C. Line a large gratin dish (approx. 27x20cm) with baking parchment.

Cut the beetroot into 2 cm pieces, place it in a microwaveable bowl with a tablespoon of water, cover with some cling film or a plate and microwave for 7 minutes (the original recipe says 10, my microwave is from the stone age (a.k.a. really slow) and whenever I have made these brownies and left them in there for 10 minutes I have ended up with mush, after 10 they are cooked through already).

While you are waiting for the beetroot, break the chocolate into pieces and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and salt until their volume has tripled. If you are using an electric whisk, this should take about 3-5 minutes, if you are using a balloon whisk and are using your own muscle power, I am a) totally impressed with you and b) have no clue how long things are going to take so whisk away until the volume has tripled or your arms fall off :)

Drain the water the beetroot has been cooking in, then puree until smooth. A hand held immersion blender works wonders here. Once you have beetroot puree staring at you, mix in the chocolate, recover the mixture and set it aside so the chocolate can melt.

Fold the almonds, starch, cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla extract into the eggs. Make sure you have a homogeneous mixture.

Follow this by folding in the beetroot-chocolate purée until combined.

Pour the batter into the gratin dish and smooth out the top.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Allow the brownie to cool before you cut it into pieces because it breaks quite easily while it is still hot.

Milk obviously works really well here, but so does wine :)

I hope you have a fabulous rest of your week and that your Halloween costume was less ridiculous than mine (the 80s were somewhat alive). I will be back with another (yes, another) chocolatey recipe :)

Grown-Up Chocolate Chip Cookies

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When I moved into my flat, 6 other people moved into the building as well. A few of us bonded over the fact that whoever did the renovations had a different concept of what a finished flat should look like (we think it should include ceilings without holes, working lights, oh, and warm water and working radiators tend to be a plus as well...) anyhow in the midst of stressing about builders and not being able to go and buy furniture, I met some really lovely people.

The cool thing about this rather lame story is that a few of us have started inviting each other over for dinner. This week we had a mean shepperd's pie one floor down and I made cookies. But I decided to make cookies 45 minutes before I dinner started and had no eggs or butter left. That's when I remembered that I could just make vegan cookies (well they would have been vegan if there had been soy milk in my kitchen...this way they were just egg free).
These cookies feel somewhat more grown-up than normal chocolate chip cookies because the chocolate flavour plays really nicely with the peppery notes and they are not overly sweet (that said....they're cookies, you'll still get over any kind of afternoon-lull with one or two of these).
The recipe mine is based on is the 'Chocolate Chocolate Walnut Cookie' (cool name, isn't it?) recipe from the fantastic Veganomicon (the original is lovely as is but I didn't have walnuts or almond extract either...) and  in case you are wondering - I like using fleur de sel in cookies because it seems to stay somewhat separate from the dough and you get those lovely bursts of saltiness (not excessively so, but enough to bring out the sweetness of the other ingredients).  

Grown-Up Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups Flour

1/2 cup Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Bicarb

1/2 tsp Fleur de Sel

1/2 tsp freshly ground Black Pepper (if you use already ground pepper, you might want to use more)

2/3 cup Vegetable Oil (go for one that has a mild taste, canola is a good option)

1 1/2 cups Sugar

4 tbsp Ground Flaxseed

1/2 cup Milk (if you use a non-dairy alternative these cookies are vegan)

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 cup Pecan Halves

1 cup Dark Chocolate Chips (again, go for non-dairy and your vegan and lactose intolerant friends will love you)

Preheat your oven to 180˚C and line two baking trays with parchment.
On one of the trays lay out the pecans and roast them until they are dark brown (but not burned!). Allow them to cool slightly while continue with the next few steps.
Combine the flour, cocoa powder, bicarb, fleur de sel and pepper in a bowl.
In a large bowl mix the oil and sugar, once you have a smooth mixture, add the flaxseed, milk, and vanilla extract.
Crumble the pecans into smallish pieces.
Mix the wet and the dry mix. If you start having issues combining them using a fork or whisk or spoon (or whatever you are using) switch to your hands :)
Add the pecan pieces and chocolate chips and make sure they are somewhat evenly distributed across the dough.
If you use a tablespoon measure and use it like you would use an ice-cream scoop (i.e. pile the dough up so you have something resembling a circular sphere) you should end up with 32 cookies. That means you end up with 16 cookies on each sheet and they'll be spaced out far enough.
Pat the cookie balls out a bit so you have cookie disks and bake them for 10-15 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through.
I found that these cookies set quite late so even after 15 minutes I had perfectly gooey cookies after dinner. The next day at lunch I felt like I should have taken them out slightly earlier. So I guess the message is that it depends on when you are planning on eating the cookies.
Obviously, milk is amazing with these cookies, but they work really well with some red wine as well (since we're being all grown-up and stuff).

Do you have a favourite cookie recipe?

Chocolate, Pecan & Banana Slices

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I could have called these brownies. But that wouldn't have been a fitting description. You see, last week someone brought some banana brownies along to eat after lacrosse practice and I wish I knew who did...but I seem to have forgotten everything about that day other than how amazing these brownies tasted. In all their gooey goodness.
So the idea of doing something similar was born. But as much as I love proper brownies (especially when they're still slightly warm and come with some ice-cream), I don't find them especially easy to handle or to transport or even especially nice to eat the next day when they have cooled down. This is why I made these, a slightly dryer, slightly denser, fudgier (is that even a word?!?), and infinitely easier to handle cousin of the chocolate brownie :)
Oh, and in case you are wondering why I weigh the banana - I have a tupperware container in my freezer that is home to slices of banana. Whenever I buy too many and they start becoming slightly over-ripe, I just cut them into 1-2cm slices (so they are easier to portion later on) and freeze them. That means when I decide to bake something with bananas or that I want to make banana soft-serve as I am walking up the stairs, I don't have to run to the supermarket but can just use the frozen ones.

Chocolate, Pecan & Banana Slices
125g Dark Chocolate
125g Butter
125g Sugar
125g Flour
125g Pecans, roughly chopped
200g Banana (mashed)
2 Eggs
1/4 tsp Fleur de Sel
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tbsp Bourbon (optional)

Preheat your oven to 175˚C and line a brownie tin (something close to 20x20cm will do) with baking parchment.
Melt the chocolate and butter. You can either be old-fashioned and use a bain-marie or, if you're lazy like me, just melt them in the microwave. I don't see why you shouldn't do that because the whole thing is going to be warm later on anyway as it is baking. I put things into the microwave and heat it 30 seconds at a time (shorter intervals towards the end) until nearly everything is melted.
Whisk until you have a smooth texture, then add the eggs and banana. Whisk until the biggest lumps of banana are gone.
If you like bourbon, add some now. I find booze makes everything better and the bourbon works really well with the banana flavour, and the chocolate flavour, and it will work really well with the pecans, too. Just saying...
Stir in the sugar, salt and vanilla extract and make sure things are properly combined until you add the flour.
Once the flour is mixed in, add the pecans and pour the batter into the tin.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out relatively clean - you still want some moist crumbs but you don't want the batter to be relatively liquid anymore either.
Allow the cake to cool for a bit before you cut it into slices - it breaks quite easily while it is still warm.
Personally, I really like these with a glass of milk, or coffee, or tea.

What is your favourite sports-related food? Is there something you can't live without after a competition or do you have a post-training ritual or something similar?

Very Dark Chocolate Loaf Cake

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I have been meaning to post this recipe for ages. Because it is so amazing I made it two weeks in a row (once you see the quantities you will understand that eating one of those loafs in a week is quite a feat) and had it for breakfast most days. And then I had some for dinner a few of those days as well. Oh, and in case you are wondering, the cake freezes really well if you wrap it in tinfoil and then stick it into a freezer-bag.
The reason I am finally getting around to telling you about it is that I was desperate for a pick-me-up while I was icing my possibly slightly bruised cheek the other day (you know, I thought trying to catch a ball with my face would be a good idea...) and after I found a frozen slice sitting next to the ice-pack I was rifling through my freezer for things did look a lot better. You can microwave the frozen cake until it is warm and then eat it with some ice-cream :)
I found this loaf cake in Baked Explorations which, in case I have not told you before, is full of recipes you will try and then bake again and again. 
Anyhow, the original is lovely but I found using yoghurt and dark agave syrup gives it a somewhat more rounded flavour.
It works incredibly well on its own and is really lovely with some almond butter or some cream cheese but it truly shines when you spread some caramel sauce on a slice and have it with some ice cream as a dessert.

Very Dark Chocolate Loaf Cake (adapted from Baked Explorations)
110g Cocoa Powder
200g Flour

1 1/2 tsp Bicarb

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

150g Raw Cane Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2 Eggs
100ml Dark Agave Syrup
125ml Yoghurt
125ml Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Coconut Extract

100g Dark Chocolate (at least 75%)

100g Milk Chocolate (both types of chocolate broken into pieces)

Preheat your oven to 175˚C. Butter and flour a 13x23cm loaf tin (if you don't know your tin's dimensions - that's one for a large loaf)

In a bowl, combine the cocoa powder, flour, bicarb, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar  until the mixture becomes lighter in colour and somewhat fluffy.

In a third bowl (I promise this one is the last one!) combine the yoghurt, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and coconut extract. Add the dry mix in three or four parts. Whisk about a third of the egg mixture into the batter. Once it is properly incorporated, fold in the remainder of the mixture taking care not to beat all the air out of the batter again. 

Fold in the chocolate and pour the batter into the prepared tin.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until no batter sticks to a cake tester when inserted in the middle of the cake.

Allow the cake to cool for a bit before taking it out of the tin and allowing it to cool completely.

As I said....caramel sauce is the way forward! Oh, and some good coffee doesn't hurt either :)

I hope you have a fantastic rest of your week!

Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Ok, before we go any further, these are hands down the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever made.
I don't think I was made for cookie baking - I don't tend to want to have 3 dozen cookies sitting around in my kitchen (I won't eat them and, unlike what some people have been suspecting, I don't want to make everyone around me obese) and I seem to go for a hit-and-miss approach when I'm making cookies.
Unlike cake when I can just try a new recipe and will change quantities that sound slightly off, I can try two cookie recipes that appear both sensible and end up with an amazing one and another one that makes me want to throw them out the second they have cooled down.
But these cookies didn't just look the way I want cookies to look, they also tasted like I had died and gone to cookie heaven. So you might wonder what I did different this time - at least I hope you are because I'll tell you anyway.
I went back to basics and adapted Ree's chocolate chip cookie recipe (have you ever had a recipe on PW not work out? I haven't) and I started wondering why I hadn't done so years ago. I think this will turn into one of my standard recipes because it was super quick and the cookies are just plain amazing.
Anyhow, enough talking...let's make some cookies!

Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes 12)
100g Butter, at room temperature
100g Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
65g Plain Flour
35g Buckwheat Flour
1/2 tsp Instant Coffee
1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda (slightly) heaped
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Flaxseed, ground
100g Chocolate (I used 75% cocoa), broken into pieces

Preheat your oven to 190˚C
Cream the butter and the sugar, then add the vanilla extract and egg and keep mixing until they are well combined. In a separate bowl, mix the flours, salt, instant coffee and bicarb. Add the dry mix to the wet mix in 3 parts, stirring after each addition, then add the flaxseed (do not over-beat but make sure the ingredients are well-combined). Finally add the chocolate chunks and stir until they are relatively evenly distributed across the batter.
Using a spoon put little lumps (about the size of 2tbsp measuring spoons) of batter onto a lined baking tray leaving enough space between the lumps so the cookies can spread out.
Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes, allow them to cool slightly before transferring them onto a wire-rack and eating them either still warm or cold, but always with a big glass of milk.

Peppery Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

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We made these for our board-game night and while I would like to be able to tell you how well they keep, we didn't have any leftovers so the answer is - I don't have a clue :)
I found these in 'Baked Explorations' and while it's already been out for a couple of months, I think if you're going to buy only one cake-related cookbook this year, make it this one!
Anyhow, let's get back to the cookies :)
The description in the book talks about how they are a grown-up version of Oreos but they keep reminding me of Prinzenrolle and being a kid (even though that has vanilla cookie on the outside and chocolate on the inside), but either way, they are amazing and out of the cookies I have made recently they have received the highest praise from my testers (so high that I am not quite comfortable repeating Manuel's comment).
Oh, and the general consensus was that while they are amazing if you use a 5cm cookie cutter, they would probably be even nicer if they were slightly smaller (and try sprinkling the fleur de sel evenly across the tops, not just the middle).

Peppery Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
450g Flour
3/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Fleur De Sel + more for decorating
11/2 tsp White Pepeper
30g Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
350g Butter, cut into cubes, not cold but not at room temperature
250g Granulated Sugar
225g Icing Sugar
3 Egg Yolks
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
100g Dark Chocolate, melted

For the filling:
150g Vegetable Shortening
50g Butter, both at room temperature
400g Icing Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Dark Rum (I know it's not gonna be super white, but think about the flavour)

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl and set them aside.
Cream the butter and both sugars. Then, add the egg yolks, one at a time, followed by the vanilla and the melted chocolate. Whisk until things are properly mixed in.
Add half the dry ingredients, beat for about 15 seconds, add remainder beat until incorporated, don't overbeat at this point.
Chill the dough for at least 3 hours (I would just go for overnight, though creaming the butter in my flat at 10pm was a bit of a challenge).

Heat your oven to 350 degrees and line bakingsheets with parchment.
Take out 1/4 of the dough,put rest back into fridge (this is important, I tried to get around this and didn't succeed...it's a lot easier if the dough is properly chilled).
Knead the dough until pliable, then roll it out until 1/4 inch thick, the surface gets a bit sticky so keep some flour handy in case you have to dust the surface with flour.
Cut out the cookies and transfer them to the baking sheet.
Continue with rest of dough. If you have scraps, put them back into the fridge for a while before you reuse them (don't try using them straight again...bad idea...trust me....)
Sprinke the tops of cookies with fleur de sel (an even distribution was advocated by my trusty testers :) )
Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, rotating the sheet(s) halfway through.
Let  them cool for a bit, then, using a spatula, move the cookies from the sheets onto a wire rack and allow them to cool completely.
Beat the shortening and butter until smooth. Add the icing sugar in 3 parts. Then add the salt, vanilla and rum and beat again (while you stop youself from eating all the icing).
If the icing is too thick, add a drop of water and beat it again.
Fill the cookies with about 1tbsp icing each, then get some lovely people together and enjoy the cookies and their company :)

Chocolate Vodka

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© Sandra Reisinger

Not that I have to say much more :)

But this is what Sandra and I do when we get bored of working on that thesis thing on Saturday evenings.

Ok, what we actually do is drink wine and read cookbooks, and then we try to figure out what we can make that doesn't involve us actually having to go to the supermarket. So when we came across this recipe that asked for 1/3 of a bottle of vodka and 2 bars of chocolate we knew we were on to a winner.

And let me tell you...work went so much better after we had a shot of this and stopped caring about the fact that it was a Saturday (and after accepting that there wasn't really anything else to do in town anyway) :)
Anyhow, this chocolate vodka is amazing but slightly lethal because you can't really taste the alcohol. So if you have more than just a drizzle over some ice cream or as part of a wicked milkshake - don't blame me if you do something stupid like not finishing work that evening :)

Chocolate Vodka

A bottle of Vodka that has 1/3 of the vodka left 

2 bars of dark chocolate

A 5cm piece of vanilla pod

Break the chocolate into pieces and stick it all into the bottle, add the vanilla and put the open bottle into a pot that's half filled with water.

Heat the water and watch the chocolate melt into the vodka. Once the chocolate is happily melting away (don't allow the water to boil though!), screw the top back on and give the bottle a good shake.
You might have to stick the bottle back into the water if there's still some chocolate pieces in there.
Once there are no chocolate bits left and you are staring at a boozy chocolatey mess go and have some fun :)

© Sandra Reisinger

Chocolate-Aubergine Cake

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Ever feel like no matter how much chocolate you eat it just doesn't cut it? For me this is the cake for just those moments....Think chocolate mousse in cake form....

I found this cake in Harry Eastwood's 'Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache' but ended up playing around with it a bit...

© Verena Kersken

Chocolate-Aubergine Cake

2 largeish Aubergines (you'll want around 600 to 700 grams overall)

400 g Dark Chocolate (I find anything over 80% gets excessive...lovely when you eat it but don't see the point for cooking...)

75 g Cocoa Powder

100 g Ground Almonds

4 Eggs

300 g Clear Honey

3 tsp Baking Powder

A pinch of Salt

1 tbsp Rum

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line a 26cm springform tin with baking parchment (or tinfoil if you're really struggling...but you might end up picking bits of aluminium off you cake...be warned).

Next you're gonna pretend the aubergines are your ex or your high-school Latin teacher and puncture their skin with a fork. Put them into a bowl, cover with cling film and put them into the microwave for just under 10 minutes. When you take them out drain the water at the bottom and then let them cool(this is the important bit) before taking their skin off (believe me burning your fingers while skinning aubergines does not make you a happy person...so rather wait 5 minutes too long...and reheat them afterwards....).

Next you want to puree the aubergines either with one of those hand-held stick things or with whatever blendery thing you happen to have (this might take some time...but it'll get there...). Stir in the chocolate and set it aside until the chocolate has completely melted...put it back into the microwave for a bit if you have to....

Admire the velvety-chocolatey-amazingess in front of you!

Combine all the other ingredients and fold in the chocolate aubergine mix - it might take a while to combine....

Put everything into the tin and bake it for about 35-40 minutes (if your skewer comes out clean you'll have done something wrong...) and enjoy while still semi-warm...
If you have leftovers, you can freeze them really well and just microwave them when you need them. Best thing ever after a long day or when you're stuck for desert when you've got friends over.