Hot Chocolate and Citrus Puddings | Pandemic Recipes

This hot chocolate and citrus puddings deliver the lightness of soufflé without any of the anxiety. Meanwhile, a closer examination of the ingredients reviews there is no cornstarch or any thickeners other than the eggs. You may call it a pudding/ soufflé/ cake; it takes on the character of all of the above. (A chocolate soufflé cake I like to serve on special occasions comes to mind.) Furthermore, I can say this is a five-ingredient recipe, which includes chocolate, citrus zest, egg, sugar, and cream. Not counting the butter I use to prepare the ramekins for baking. No wonder, Yotam Ottolenghi lists this chocolate pudding as one of his 10 perfect dessert recipes. The puddings stand out for the simplicity by design, the complexity in flavor and a keeper, for sure.

I like that the puddings come out easily from the ramekins, so that they can be plated like cakes rather than puddings. Serve them with creme fraiche and a dusting of cocoa or confectioners’ sugar, they look elevated.

Taking a deep breath, while indulging in the thoughts that the pandemic (with the vaccines) may well be in the rearview mirror, I look back over the last year in 2020. What has kept us in good health and strong spirits is my non-stop cooking. It’s revealing to see the theme of the pandemic dishes that pop up regularly. Without picking out the groceries in the stores, my cooking revolves around the pantry. Key among them are, primarily, the flours (for making bread, pasta and focaccia), beans, lentils, root vegetables, frozen vegetables and shelf-stable flavor bombs.

There are more than a few keepers among my favorite dishes with staying power beyond 2020. In fact, it’s quite a list. Here are just a few examples:

• Buckwheat and Haricots Verts Salad | Ottolenghi’s Simple
• Butter-Poached Corn with Egg Noodles | Everyday Dorie
• Ramen Noodle with Kale and Mushroom
• Squash, Butter beans and Thyme | Heirloom Beans
• Miso-Maple-Jammed and Glazed Sweet Potatoes
• Puréed Beets with Yogurt & Za’atar | Jerusalem
• Perfect Roasted Potatoes | Nigella Lawson
• Tuscan White Bean Soup | Ina Garten

I was fortunate to be able to take advantage of having my daughter around and bake as a team while sheltering in place. Without expecting too much, we made something rather epic that neither one of us had done individually, like this vertical layer cake. There are others. Together we produced something of exceptional beauty and taste (as well as instagram-worthy). These food images remind us of our covid season of baking and they’ll stay with us for good.

Our life may have stalled in some respect, but there is a silver lining in it all. Remarkably, we’ve emerged stronger and more resilient than the way we were a year ago. None of us will forget this time.

Print Recipe

Hot Chocolate and Citrus Puddings | Ottolenghi

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 15g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g 70% cocoa solid dark cooking chocolate, roughly chopped
• 100g 37% cocoa solid milk cooking chocolate, roughly chopped
• Finely grated zest of two oranges or three limes (1 tbsp)
• Four large eggs, at room temperature
• 60g caster sugar, plus 30g for preparing the moulds
• 110ml double cream
• 200g creme fraiche, to serve

Instructions

1

PREHEAT THE OVEN AND PREPARE THE RAMEKINS: Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Brush the ramekins or moulds with softened butter, then sprinkle with caster sugar to coat evenly.

2

MELT THE CHOCOLATE: In a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, making sure the base isn’t touching the water; stir with a spatula from time to time, so the chocolate melts evenly. Remove the bowl from the heat, stir in the lime zest and leave to cool for 10 minutes, until tepid.

3

WHISK THE EGGS AND SUGAR: Put the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment in place and beat on high speed for six minutes, until very light, fluffy and trebled in volume.

4

WHISK THE CREAM: Put the double cream in a medium bowl and whisk to soft peaks.

5

FOLD THE CHOCOLATE INTO THE EGG MIXTURE: Gently fold the melted chocolate in two batches into the egg mix. When almost combined, fold in the whipped cream until thoroughly combined: it will lose a little volume, so take care not to over-mix.

6

FILL THE RAMEKINS AND BAKE: Spoon the mixture into the prepared ramekins, filling them three-quarters of the way up the sides. Put the ramekins in a large, deep baking dish, transfer to the oven and pour boiling water into the tray so it comes a third of the way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until the puddings are softly set in the middle: check by gently tapping the centre of the puddings with a fingertip. Remove from the oven, transfer the ramekins to serving plates and serve at once with a little creme fraiche spooned alongside.

Notes

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/02/pavlova-cheesecake-yotam-ottolenghi-dessert-millionaires-shortbread-knickerbocker-glory-recipes-sweet