Friday choc quickie

 I had such a crappy day today. Without going into detail, I really need to get more involved in the micromanagement of my life, and once again my inattention to detail has screwed me over totally. Do you ever have those moments when you just want to go home, pull the duvet over your head and cry for a few hours? I was also reminded of the fact that the last thing you should do on a crappy day is go grocery shopping. Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice, as I won't have time to do my weekly grocery shopping any other day this weekend. So into Tesco I went, and came out with over a kilogram (yes, scary, and I have no idea wtf I will do with it all...) of cheese (a girl needs her calcium, right??). And some deli meats (well it's kind of healthy, it's proteins. Never mind the fat and salt). And dark chocolate (I mean, it's pretty much health food, it's 70% cocoa dark chocolate). And milk chocolate. Ok, can't rationalise that no matter how hard I try. Maybe some more calcium? All I know is, I just have no self control. Truth is, I had a reason for those choccy chips. It's this recipe from a lovely blog called My Happy Place that I stumbled upon when browsing Pinterest. Ever since I bought my cute little pink ramekins (more about them in an upcoming post soon), I have been obsessed with cute little things that can be cooked in individual portions. And of course the good thing about tiny small recipes is that once you have finished your individual portion, there won't be anything left over to binge on when the craving hits. 


Anyways, this is a single serving choc chip cookie, cooked in the microwave. It is as dangerous as the microwave choc cake I blogged about earlier. The cookie takes exactly one minute to make and another minute (or 50 seconds) to bake. From sugar and fat to belly fat in less than two minutes... This is the reason I can't stock choc chips at home, I would make these every day. Although I'm sure that in desperate times, I could make this with cranberries or raisins if I didn't have any choc chips. Unfortunately the rest of the ingredients are all things I stock at home at all times.


The single woman's choc chip cookie from My Happy Place:
1 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp dark sugar
1 tbsp melted butter
a few drops of vanilla extract (I used 1/2 tsp vanilla paste, which I like better)
egg yolk
pinch of salt
1/4 cup (40g) white flour
2 tbsp (or more...) choc chips 

Whoops, almost forgot the egg.

The howto:
In a small bowl, mix sugars, butter, vanilla, egg and salt. Add flour, and finally choc chips. I used a generous heaping, 2 tbsp just seemed so... sad and lonely. Put the dough in a ramekin or other small microwave proof bowl, and microwave for 40-60 seconds. I did 60 seconds in 700W, and next time I think I will do 50 seconds. Serve immediately.

Ready to be nuked.

Add a few raspberries, and it's practically health food...

The verdict:
The problem with the single serving goodies: there is just one single serving!! I could have eaten at least three of these (which doesn't mean it's a small serving, it's perfectly adequate, but my sugar craving knows no boundaries). This was even better than I had imagined. You know how cookie dough is always better than the actual baked cookies. But sometimes it can be a bit overwhelmingly... sweet and gooey. Well, this is the perfect missing link between fully baked cookie and raw cookie dough. It's warm and has those great gooey melted choccy bits, but it's cooked enough not to be too overwhelmingly sweet. Ok, it is sweet, it's actually very sweet. Not too sweet for me, but I can understand if people with normal carbotolerance think it is a bit too much.  


I used a very dark brown sugar, because I love the caramel-ly flavour it gives to the cookie. I also used vanilla paste instead of vanilla extract. It's a syrupy dark paste with vanilla bean seeds, and I think it gives a much nicer and more rounded vanilla flavour than vanilla extract. It is rather expensive to buy, but one jar will last you a really long time, and it also doesn't go bad (I think I have had mine for at least six months). 


This recipe is so dangerous. Not only is it quick and easy, there are also endless opportunities to do different variations of it. Orange and chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, lime, nut praline, white chocolate, rum and raisin (of course!!). Make it a bit more healthy by reducing sugar, replace some of the flour with oatmeal and the chocolate with dried berries. Be warned, this is really addictive. It's just too easy to make and tastes way too good. I'm now lying on my sofa typing this, suffering from a very bad carbo-coma. Oh well, it's Friday, and sugar makes me forget all about my worries. And no, I don't have an addiction, but thank you for asking.

The obligatory picture with melted choccy goo.

The end. Which came way too soon.