Chocolate molasses self saucing pudding

I don't know why, but I always consider desserts more of a female's domain. Maybe it's because Matt is just not interested. I'll dish up a grand dessert that will have all our guests oohing and aahing for hours, but Matt will normally pass. That said, my Dad used to buy 'heart attacks', otherwise known as a raspberry cream puffs whenever he had to go into town to pay the bills. But still, desserts seem more ladylike than anything else.

Not this recipe. This pudding is sufficiently sturdy, punchy and any other blokey adjective you might care to use. I think it's the molasses that adds the kick. You might also use some bourbon but I felt that, as we were enjoying it with a small nip of scotch (Glenlivet. Oh yeah!), bourbon might be a little excessive. News flash! Emma has declared something excessive! It MUST be over the top.

Another reason you'll love this recipe? Not only is it versatile in terms of ingredients, but it can be whipped up in a matter of minutes. I think the most tedious thing was chopping the chocolate and if I'm honest with myself, even that was kinda fun because I could do the ol' "one for the pot, one for the cook" dealio.

The quantities in this dish can be multiplied out. I've chosen to keep it small because there's just the two of us at home. If we had guests, I might amp it up, but it's perfect and simple for a cold, quiet night at home. Maybe recovering from over-indulgence on a Saturday night? Never!

Ingredients

60g plain flour
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp star anise, ground
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cocoa
50g chocolate
1/4c milk
1 tbsp butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla paste

75g caster sugar
1 tbsp molasses
1/2c hot water

Preheat the oven to 180º and grease 2 ramekins with butter.

Melt butter. Sift flour, star anise, baking powder and cocoa into a bowl. Chop chocolate and add with the sugar to the dry incredients. Mix the butter, eggs, milk and vanilla and add to the flour. Mix quickly until all flour is incorporated.

Pour the batter into the ramekins. Mix together the caster sugar, molasses and hot water and pour gently over the batter. Pop into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Serve hot with a generous scoop of vanilla icecream and a nip of whisky.