Ingredients
1 Tbs cocoa powder
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 ounces butter (plus 2 Tbs for ramekins)
4 eggs
4 oz sugar
3.5 oz flour
5 tsp of peanut butter
Directions:
Preheat oven to 405F
Prepare Ramekins by buttering and then dusting with cocoa powder. Set aside
In a glass bowl place chocolate chips and remaining butter. Microwave 45 seconds. Stir until melted and incorporated. Set aside.
In another bowl, beat eggs and sugar together for two minutes. Add flour and incorporate well. There should be no lumps. Add chocolate butter mixture to the batter. It should look like cake mix consistency. Add one or two tablespoons of additional flour if the mix is too runny.
Pour batter evenly into ramekins and set onto a cookie sheet.
Drop one tsp of creamy peanut butter into the center of the batter.
Bake in oven 12 – 14 mins depending on size of ramekins.
Tops should be just barely set and very slightly jiggly in the middle.
Let cool 2 mins and enjoy!
Options:
If you do not like peanut butter, you can leave it out! Top with ice cream, whipped cream, or a dusting of powdered sugar. Some folks enjoy watching the ooze from the center, in which case you can always invert onto a plate rather than eat directly from the ramekin (I don’t like extra dishes so I just leave it in there). You can also add a drizzle of caramel or chopped nuts or chocolate syrup on top if you have it.
The Story:
This recipe idea came from a cruise we took many years ago. While lots of cruise lines have chocolate lava cake on the menu, we had one particular cruise that had the most horrible food and honestly the only redeeming item on the menu was this dessert. It is the only cruise I have been on where I lost weight and figured I was going to be hungry the whole time on board. The food was that bad. It was not unsafe, or rotten, it just wasn’t to my taste at all and it was served at strange times of the day that didn’t align with my digestive system. In addition, the selection was sparse to say the least. It was bad enough that we actually ate in port which is something we don’t ever do when already paid for food is on a ship. Once a day the molten lava cake was served, and that is pretty much all I ate on the ship that I enjoyed. I was inspired to create my own version more to my liking at home. This is less sweet; takes significantly less time and uses items I keep in my pantry. Still tastes delicious!