Quick, pass me the chocolate!

Any other chocoholics out there? Sometimes I get in the mood for chocolate and I don’t want to wait long. I have found a few very quick and easy recipes in my search. If you’ve never baked a dessert in the microwave before, you might hesitate as I did, but these come out so great. The tops of them don’t look beautiful when they come out, but I almost always sprinkle with powdered sugar or put icing on top so it doesn’t matter.

5-MINUTE BROWNIES

My children love to make these because they don’t have to wait for long before they can eat. (Okay, me too!) It is very fudgy and a bit messy to get the individual pieces out, but it tastes so good that we don’t mind.

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa
½ c. chocolate chips or white chocolate chips, optional

Grease a glass pie plate; coat with sugar. Cream sugar and butter together. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Stir flour and cocoa together, then add into egg mixture and mix well.
Pour brownie mixture into sugared pie pan. Microwave 4 ½ - 5 minutes. Do not overcook.

THE MOST DANGEROUS CHOCOLATE CAKE

I found this recipe one day while my children were at school and decided to try it out with pecans since they don’t eat nuts and it seemed like it would make one small, individual portion because it’s baked in a mug. It actually makes a small cake that could be shared. I noticed
that the cake rose straight up like a tower out of the mug while baking, but it went back down when it was finished. Then when my children got home, we made another one together without pecans so they could see the rising cake too and have some of their own. It was a fun experiment, but I don’t know that we’ll be having it again. It is a bit dry for our taste, but if you haven’t made it, you should try it!


4 T. flour
4 T. sugar
2 T. baking cocoa
1 egg
3 T. milk
3 T. oil
Splash of vanilla
3 T. chocolate chips
Few walnuts or pecans

Add dry ingredients to a mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil; mix well. Add the vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts, if using, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high. Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

QUICK MICROWAVE CHOCOLATE BANANA CAKE
This was the first dessert I made in the microwave and I have made it many times when I find out I will have guests coming and I don’t have time for other desserts (when I have a ripe banana, which I often do). It is moist, tall and the icing is very chocolatey.

2 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/3 c. margarine
1 1/4 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 large ripe banana, mashed
¾ c. water
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
Icing (recipe follows)
Banana slices, optional

Microwave chocolate and margarine in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 to 2 minutes or until margarine is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Beat in flour, sugar, banana, water, egg, vanilla, baking soda, and salt until smooth. Pour into greased 8-inch square microwaveable dish. Microwave on HIGH 8 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, rotating dish ¼ turn every 2 minutes if it does not rotate. Cool in dish on counter top. Frost cake with glaze. Garnish with banana slices if desired.

SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE ICING:
3 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate
1 c. powdered sugar
3 T. water
1/2 t. vanilla
1 T. margarine

Microwave chocolate, water and margarine in large microwavable bowl on HIGH 1 to 2 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring once. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar and vanilla until smooth. For thinner glaze, add ½ to 1 teaspoon additional water.

CHOW MEIN CANDY
This isn’t really a recipe, just an idea, since I don’t have exact amounts. I melt a bag of chocolate chips or some chocolate candy melts and throw in some slightly crushed chow mein noodles and mix. Then drop on waxed paper in small mounds. You can throw anything into the bowl—nuts, raisins, craisins, mini marshmallows, coconut… You can also add butterscotch chips or peanut butter to the chocolate and melt before adding chow mein noodles.