Budino di Cioccolato and 5 minute Cheesecake in a Cup

Budino di Cioccolato a Nigella Lawson recipe from Nigella Express

250ml full-fat milk

125ml double cream

60g caster sugar

1 15ml tablespoon cornflour

35g cocoa powder

2 15ml tablespoons boiling water

2 egg yolks 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

60g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), finely chopped

1. Put the kettle on, and warm the milk and cream together in a saucepan or in a bowl in the microwave.
2. Put the sugar and cornflour into another saucepan and sieve in the cocoa powder. Add the 2 tablespoons of boiling water and whisk to a paste.
3. Whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time, followed by the warmed milk and cream, then the vanilla extract.
4. Scrape down the sides of the pan and put it on a lowish heat, cooking and whisking for about 3-4 minutes until the mixture thickens to a mayonnaise-like consistency.
5. Take off the heat and whisk in the finely chopped chocolate, before pouring into 4 small cups or glasses, each with the capacity of about 150ml.
6. Cover the tops of the cups or glasses with clingfilm, letting the clingfilm rest on the chocolate surface, to stop a skin forming, and refrigerate once they are cooler. Make sure they are not still fridge-cold when you serve them. You can add a blob of cream on top if you like.

Serves 4

Nigella even says that she loves it straight from the pan - the best hot chocolate you've ever had. I think it is less rich that chocolate mousse - it is made with milk - but even if your guests can't finish their cupful, they'll enjoy the taste and get all the health benefits from the dark chocolate :) You could, of course, use a lesser dark chocolate or even a mix of dark and milk to make it less intensely chocolate.

One of the joys of having visitors is that you have to make dessert every night. Yesterday morning I was getting my daily Not Quite Nigella fix and she gave the recipe for a five minute cheesecake in a mug! We decided we had to have them for dessert on Tim and Shona's final night in Wagga. This recipe is a keeper - low in fat, super quick and delicious. We thought that we would use less raspberries next time in order to enjoy the creamy cheesecake better but all in all it was low effort fabulousness.