Winter is coming. You don’t have to be Jon Snow to know that. This is the perfect season in which you can tidy up those odds and ends of Summer and Autumn fruit that are hanging around, but FOR SURE have the excuse to make something hideously bad for you, with the excuse that it is “hearty” and “warming”. Got to love England.

These naughty little molten white chocolate puddings are surprisingly easy, as long as you’re strict on your cooking time. They are perfect with blackcurrant – whether you make a sorbet or squeeze some of them inside! Also, the blackcurrant means you can pretend that there is SOMETHING vaguely good for you in this – because white chocolate and condensed milk do not a fitness guru make. Soz.

These blackcurrants were from my allotment – about which you can see me wittering on over at Leeds Welcome! Have a look at the article at leedswelcome.com/articles/leeds-green-and-pleasant-lands

Molten white chocolate puddings recipe

Serves: 5

Ingredients:

200 g white chocolate
250 ml condensed milk
80 g plain flour
100 g butter, chopped
1 free-range egg

handful of blackcurrants/blackcurrant compote/blackcurrant flesh leftover from making sorbet for inside; alternatively just serve with blackcurrant sorbet or coulis.

Seriously. Blackcurrant sorbet is amazing. I should put a recipe up. Ask if you want one.

Method:

Carefully melt your white chocolate, divided into squares, in the microwave (or bain marie if you’re one of those mental types without a microwave – HOW do you survive?!)Add in your butter, in small blobs, and microwave it for 10 seconds/melt it with your interminable bain marie skills. When completely melted, mix it well so you’ve got a horrendously tasty white goop. Set the mix aside to cool a little.

Turn your oven on, to 180C.

Beat your egg with an electric mixer. Then mix the condensed milk into it.

Now add your white chocolate mixture into your egg mixture and mix through, then sift in your flour and amalgamate.

Now to moulds. The best type to have would be the little, individual metal cup moulds. If you have these, bully for you, you excellent kitchen queen – grease them well and coat them in flour.

If you’re like me, you’re more likely to be stuck with a silicon muffin tray. No probs. SORRY, but this is not going to work well with a metal/inflexible muffin tray. If you’ve got this far, and only just read this line – I apologise. Give it a go – let me know if you manage to make it work for you! If you have a silicon tray, it’ll work – again, grease the moulds and sprinkle lightly with flour.

Now pour/spoon your batter into whichever mould you have. If you have blackcurrant compote (I have used the blackcurrant “fibre” you’re left with in the sieve when you make blackcurrant sorbet, which is perfect, but you could even just use a couple of whole blackcurrants, or leave the puds pure chocolate, which is somehow more wonderful) to add to the middle, spoon them in between two spoons of mix (preferably nearer the top of the mould, as their weight will cause them to sink a bit anyway). Leave a gap at the top of your mould so the mix can grow as it cooks – around 1cm.

Now bake your molten white chocolate pudding pieces of joy! Your oven has to be pretty accurate (mine isn’t – I accidentally cleaned the numbers off, so timings were more trial and error) – if it is, you will need to bake on 180C in a fan oven, for 17 minutes. If it isn’t – I’d recommend just cooking one pudding first, for this length of time, and doing all of the recipe as below, before tweaking for a minute or two more or less depending on your oven’s outcome. Anyway, if you over cook them, you’ll end up with little hot cakes. More boring, for sure, but hardly a horrendous outcome. Here’s one from my first batch, which I overcooked:

Hardly a nightmare. It was still dang tasty. But as I said, having since cooked these in a reliable oven, where 180C IS 180C, they have not caused me one iota of trouble.

After 17 minutes they should look cooked on top, but they’ll still be hiding a gooey centre (you don’t know this until you spoon into them). Pull them out of the oven now, and (the hard part) keep your hands OFF for 5 minutes. This’ll let them stabilise, so you can get them out of the mould, but retain their goo centre.

With a silicon muffin mould, this is a bit ungainly – simply loosen around the edge of your puddings, one by one, and flip them over, slap bang into your serving bowl of choice. They’ll plop out. Presentation isn’t at its best here. With individual moulds, again loosen around the edge with a thin knife blade, but you should be able to be a little more delicate with your movements!

Et voila! These are ridiculously tasty, and I totally recommend the addition of blackcurrants (most particularly sorbet). Eat them all, now. That’s what I did, hence no picture of one gooing at you – sorry. I’ll add one into the post next time I make (I bought 3 cans of condensed milk, just for the purpose…)

They are not as fun when they’re cold, though I did eat one for breakfast (good excuse to polish off the whole tray ASAP…)

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