Valentine's Day!

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day this past Sunday! We went to church, then to to Kobe swap meet here in San Diego, out to lunch at Phil's BBQ, and went shopping and then saw a movie. After the movie we went back to my house and had Gouda cheese, bread, and salami as an appetizer. My boyfriend made me a delicious dinner of filet mignon, arugula, and grilled asparagus, and I finished off the evening making chocolate souffles with vanilla ice cream on top! Needless to say, I felt very fat, but very happy at the end of the day.

My boyfriend gave me an amazing baking cook book for Valentine's Day, filled with 350 recipes, so I felt it only necessary to use the chocolate souffle recipe from the book. It was easy and done in no time. However, I did cut the recipe in half, because it normally serves 6. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 ramekins, buttered and sprinkled with sugar, then freeze them

4oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup butter

2 eggs at room temperature

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons flour

Preheat over to 450 degrees.

Combine butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir with a whisk or silicone spatula until smooth and melted, then remove from heat.

Combine eggs, and sugar and beat on high speed with a mixer for about 5 minutes, or until the ribbon stage (when the beater is lifted the mixture falls in a wide band onto the surface, forming a figure eight that stays for 5 seconds before dissolving).

Pour the eggs mixture over the chocolate mixture and fold with a rubber spatula while sifting the flour over the mixture. Alternate between adding flour-about 1/3 of the flour at a time-and folding until the flour is no longer visible.

Transfer mixture into prepared ramekins and smooth the tops. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 2 hours (but I didn't freeze them, I added them straight to the oven).

Bake cakes for 14-16 minutes, until risen almost by half. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream on top, or plain and sprinkled with confectioners' sugar.