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Molten chocolate, coffee and cardamom pots

If you are looking for a quick dessert that is guaranteed to impress, look no further. These pots will definitely hit the spot and give you a dose of chocolate that will satisfy any sweet tooth.

December 27, 2019 at 11:52 am

I initially decided to try out two recipes from Yasmin Khan’s book “Zaitoun”, a salad and a main, but after seeing this dessert, I just had to try it. If you’ve ever been to the Middle East or know Middle Easterners, you’ll know that coffee is serious business for us. We love our coffee in all shapes and forms, but one of the staples in a Palestinian home is our ahwa sada, which translates to plain coffee, but there is nothing plain about it. It is perfumed with cardamom and commonly enjoyed without sugar, hence where the plainness comes in.

This dessert is an ode to this coffee, with the addition of bitter chocolate, which makes everything better. What I like about these chocolate pots is that they come together very quickly and don’t require you to separate your eggs or any other complicated steps. The ingredients are also very simple and mostly pantry staples.

These pots are also a great option for feeding a crowd because you can make them ahead of time and stick them in the fridge until dessert time. Then you just pop them in the oven for a few minutes and they are ready to serve immediately.

If you are looking for a quick dessert that is guaranteed to impress, look no further. These pots will definitely hit the spot and give you a dose of chocolate that will satisfy any sweet tooth.

Ingredients (serves 6)

  • 50g unsalted butter, plus more for ramekins
  • 200g good-quality dark chocolate
  • 120g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • Pinch of fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp cocoa powder
  • 500g plain flour
  • 3 cardamom pods
  • ½ tsp instant coffee

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 C/fan 180 C/Gas 6 and lightly butter 6 ramekins
  2. Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in heatproof bowl. Sit this bowl over a pan of simmering water, without letting the base touch the water, and allow the chocolate to melt, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool.
  3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a food mixer or electric beaters, then beat in the eggs one at a time, the salt, cocoa powder and flour. Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods, grind them to a powder in a mortar and pestle and add them to the batter. Then mix the coffee granules with 1 tablespoon of just-boiled water until they dissolved and stir that in too. Finally, add the melted chocolate and blend until smooth.
  4. Gently spoon the batter into the prepared ramekins, you can cover and put them to one side or store in the fridge, if you aren’t cooking them straight away. Otherwise, bake in the oven for 12-13 minutes, until they are just firm. Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!