Chocolate for Valentine's Day

Every evening hubby and I like to have something sweet

once the kids are in bed. We don't do a very

good job of planning what we

want though.

Sunday I had mentioned something about

 making blondies for us. He said that sounded really good.

We had Christmas M & M's still. He had

gotten them for free. Note that we

don't eat much candy. I had him sort out

the red from the green M & M's so

I could use them for the blondies

recipe.

Monday I changed my mind.

I had found something that looked

far more appealing than blondies for a

Valentine's treat.

I had to make a run to pick up a prescription

and while doing so I picked up some baker's

chocolate.

That was the only missing ingredient.

Once I got home I began working on our

dessert. It didn't take long to put together, but I needed

time to get dinner ready for us as well.

Ok I have left you in suspence for long enough.

Here goes.

Chocolate Molten Cakes

 6 oz bittersweet baking chocolate

10 T unsalted butter

1 1/2 c powdered sugar

1/2 c flour

3 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

1 t vanilla

1 t espresso powder

 (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 425*. Grease 6 - 6oz custard/ramakin dishes and dust with cocoa powder. Place them on a baking sheet.
2. Melt chocolate and butter being careful not to burn the chocolate. If microwaving be sure to only place it in for a few seconds and to throughly stir, making sure all the chocolate is melted.
3. Add vanilla and mix. Add powered sugar, flour and optional espresso powder (I used a tsp of coffee liquor in mine in place of espresso). Mix until well blended.
4. Add 3 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks, beating well until blended with chocolate mixture.
5. Divide batter evenly among cups. There is aproximately 24 oz of batter, which means each cup would have 4 oz of batter in it. I had 4-7oz ramakins and filled each with 6 oz of batter.
6. Bake for 14 to 15 minutes or until edges of cake are firm, but still soft in the center. Let stand 1 minute and run a knife along the edge of the cup to loosen cake. Invert cake carefully onto a plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and raspberries or banana slices or sprigs of mint. Serve along with whipped cream or ice cream.

Makes 12 servings - 1/2 cake each if using 6 cups or 1/4 cup if using 4 cups.

Seriouly? I ate the whole thing by myself! I loved every last bit of that bad boy too! Hubby said it was

too much for him. He couldn't handle it.

The M&M's are still waiting to be made into something delicious.

Top Ten On Tuesday

1. Valentine's Day - Friday hubby scattered notes all over the house for me. He was going to tie each of the notes to a rose, but I was up before he got back from the store with them. It was still a great suprise.

2. Wamer tempatures. That means we are closer to being able to visit the zoo and parks to play. Im so excited about it because little G loves being a big sister to Miss J. She often teaches her things and it is the cutest thing. I think they will both like the zoo and know that little G will do her sisterly duty of filling in Miss J on animals.

3. Not having a boss. Well, I do have a boss or bosses in a sense. But we blew bubbles last week and that would have been frowned upon at a regular job. We have playdates, which too would be frowned upon.

4. A fixed drain. The drain in our tub had been slow for some time. V-E-R-Y slow! Sunday it was resolved. Ahhh!!

5. A budget challenge I set for myself for groceries for one week. I was a bit scared terrified at the thought of limiting myself to $50 for a week. But after sitting down and making out the week of meals I think I have done it. Holy smokes! Well, it was done on about $52. That includes diapers for two.

6. Who says being a stay at home mom is boring, uneventful or not work?! Hubby asked me Sunday night how I managed to stay sane. I dont and am not.

7. Love seeing my 2 yr old learning to count. Last week she took some cheerios into the living room (which I don't typically let her do) and proceed to try to count them. She is showing me how she learns best. That means I need to get on the ball and get more visual aides for her.

8. Chocolate! I made the one of the best chocolate recipes last night for hubby and I. Shortly after he ate it he was asleep on the couch. Coincidence? I think so. I will post more about the recipe later.

9. When my 11 month old sleeps through the night it is absolute heaven for me. She didn't begin sleeping through the night until she was about 10 months old. Last night she was up twice. Uggg. I have a feeling she is going to be cutting her upper teeth very soon.

10. Looks like today might be my Monday. Both of my girls were up at 6am. That is way way too early!

Early Monday's

Like my layout?

Err...I don't.

Im trying to figure out how to remove

the red and blue with wording.

I try and try and try.

Earlier today I was making something and wanted

ramakins. I have 4 and could only find 3 of them.

I said something to hubby when he

got home.

Low and behold he found it -

in the dishwasher!

Crazy right.

I think Im am loosing it.

For the meantime my

blog is going to look

like a hot mess.

Speaking of hot mess.

I look like exactly that today.

My two little ones decided that 7am

was a good time to get up.

As my day got later I began to show it.

While making supper my shirt had

evidence of my work.

I then realized why it was that housewives in

the 60's were in the practice of changing before their husbands came home.

I later noticed that I had chocolate on my sleeve.

MMMMmmm...

That was from desert.

I will post that later for you!