Easy Peasy

Last night we hosted the Elmores, Jeremy and Nicci, one last time before their exciting but sudden move to Johnson City, TN.  These two have been around my family for years as they have been friends of my brother and his wife since their college days.  We moved to their college town here in KY where the Elmores have been living since they graduated and married.  We are excited for them as they begin their new life in Tennessee, serving at Carson Newman. We're sad, but we know exactly how they feel and rejoice with them in that.  Here is a couple more photos of from the evening.

I know, this is just weird.

Bailey really likes Nicci.  Bailey is praying very hard that the Elmores will find a good home for their dog, Josie, since she can't move to Tennessee with them.  Would YOU be interested???

Let's talk about dessert.  Last night we made pizza, and what goes better with pizza but CHOCOLATE!  We decided to go with Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes.  I found the recipe at Tasty Kitchen.  You will need:

4 1-oz. squares of semi-sweet Baker's chocolate

1 stick of unsalted butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

6 Tbsp flour

Here's what you do:

First, preheat the oven to 425.  Lightly oil 4 custard cups or ramekins.  Microwave the chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl for 1-2 minutes and whisk until smooth.  I usually prefer to do this over a double-boiler, but I braved the microwave for the sake of convenience and it turned out fine.  In the same bowl, whisk in the sugar until well-blended.  Then whisk in the eggs and yolks.  Lastly, stir in the flour.  Divide the velvety chocolate mixture amongst the 4 ramekins.  Yes, I just used the word "amongst".  Bake 13-14 minutes until the sides are firm but the center is squishy.  When they come out of the oven, they will look like this:

They are kind of lop-sided and assymetrical, not uniform at all.  But I prefer to think of this dessert as a reflection of those to whom it is being served.  Let them cool in the cups for a minute or two and then invert them onto plates.  You should probably top them with homemade whipped cream or ice cream, at the very least.  We chose homemade vanilla with strawberries.  It was a perfect pair.

Ok, pretend like the above photo doesn't have any shadows and that the scoop of ice cream hadn't fallen off the top of the cake.  Look how the chocolate oozes out!  It is a cozy dessert, perfect for entertaining because it requires just one bowl and a whisk, and bakes up in no time at all.  You'll definitely want to eat this while it's still warm!