Which came first, the ramekin or the recipe

When you have unhealthy relationships with both food and money, what does a gal do after work on a payday? Go on a ramekin shopping spree.

I bought ten ramekins last night of varying sizes, for no other reason than the fact that I have no ramekins.

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NOUN: ramekin (plural ramekins) (cooking) a small glass or earthenware dish, often white and circular, in which food is baked and served

c. 1706, from French ramequin, either from dialectical Middle Dutch rammeken (“a cheese dish”) or from Middle Low German ramken (“cream (diminutive)”) diminutive of ram (“cream”), from rōme, akin to Old English ream (unrelated to Modern English cream), German rahm.
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Well, I guess that's not entirely true. I found a recipe for a lava-type cake in a recent Something Extra magazine, and it called for baking them in four-ounce ramekins. And it stuck in my craw that I had no ramekins, or even an acceptable substitute.

I got the above 4- and 6-oz ramekins at Cost Plus, plus the two flat-looking 4-oz tart/ramekin thingies on the right at Le Dollar Store, next door to Cost Plus.

So come Saturday, my husband Rob and I had, in what's known in healthy eating circles as "A Bad Day." Mostly courtesy of a $50 Red Lobster gift card that surfaced last weekend when I cleaned the home office. It had gone missing four years ago, and had reached a Holy Grail-like mythological status in our household. Cleaning out a closet? "Well, maybe you'll finally find that Red Lobster card! Har-de-har-har-har!" Donating some clothes? "Better check those pockets, make sure you don't donate that Red Lobster card..." We actually hadn't eaten at Red Lobster except maybe once or so in the intervening years, cuz it's just too painful to sit there and eat something that could've been FREE, damn it.

So we remedied that today by eating $50-and-then-some worth of various shellfishes with drawn butter and a buttload of Cheddar Bay Biscuits. Which I will have to try and re-create one of these days. But that is neither here nor there, when it comes to ramekins. Or is it?

When the waiter finally got to the part of the meal where he says, "Did you save room for dessert?" I gave Rob the stink-eye and told him that I would make us something for afters when we got home. Cue vision of ramekins dancing in my head.

So our "Bad Day" ended with little Molten Spiced Chocolate Cabernet Cakes, which I had bookmarked in a recent Sunset Magazine. The recipe calls for Cabernet (of course), which I didn't have, so I substituted my go-to liqueur, Bailey's, which I also swirled onto the plate with the cake. Only thing I would do differently next time is butter the ramekins with a heavier hand. They resisted popping out properly, but ZOMG. So tasty.

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Molten Spiced Chocolate Cabernet (or Bailey's) Cakes

4 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 tablespoon Cabernet Sauvignon or other red wine (or BAILEYS, BAILEYS, BAILEYS!!!)
1 teaspoon McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
6 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon McCormick Gourmet Collection Cinnamon, Saigon or 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Gourmet Collection Roasted Saigon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon McCormick Gourmet Collection Ginger, Ground
1/8 teaspoon McCormick Gourmet Collection Cloves, Ground (optional)
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Butter 4 (6-ounce) custard cups or soufflé dishes. Place on baking sheet.

2. Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwavable bowl on HIGH 1 minute or until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in wine (or BAILEYS, BAILEYS, BAILEYS!!!), vanilla and confectioners' sugar until well blended. Stir in eggs and yolk. Stir in flour, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Pour batter evenly into prepared custard cups.

3. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 minute. Carefully loosen edges with small knife. Invert cakes onto serving plates. Sprinkle with additional confectioners' sugar. Serve immediately.
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Next up for my new little army of ramekins is some sort of little, individual chicken pot pies with phyllo on top. Stay tuned.