This is one of the recipes that I am most proud of, and I’ve never seen a description of something like it. It’s extremely simple and easy to make (under 5 minutes), but the result is delicious and pretty unique as far as blender creations go.

I first made this one evening when I was jonesing for something chocolaty and didn’t have any chocolate around. I was thinking of making a sort of chocolate almond milk, so I put some almonds, cocoa, sugar, water, and ice in the blender. I blended it up and it was pretty good. Then I wondered if I could turn it into a sort of hot chocolate by microwaving it. It boiled up in the microwave, and I pulled it out. The bubbles instantly collapsed, but the mixture had undergone some sort of phase transition: it was no longer liquid and was much thicker. It was great to eat with a spoon, and an improvement over the chocolaty liquid. Then I had another idea–I’ve always like desserts that contrast hot and cold, so I chilled some of the uncooked liquid by blending in a few more ice cubes, and then poured it over the top. The result is delicious, and doesn’t seem like something that you just whipped up in a few minutes.

Ingredients:

⅓ cup peeled soaked or blanched almonds (raw almonds w/ skins work, but final product won’t be quite as smooth)

3 Tbsp cocoa

1.5 Tbsp sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract (optional)

⅓ cup water

4 ice cubes

Makes 2 medium servings or 1 large one.

Combine everything in pitcher, but save 2 ice cubes. I like my chocolate strong: you can adjust the amount of cocoa and sugar to your taste (or substitute an alternate sweetener if you so desire). Blend on high until smooth (~1 min). Give it a taste to make sure it’s chocolaty and sweet enough. Pour slightly more than half into a microwave-safe container that holds at least 2 cups. I use a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Microwave on high until it boils up and then collapses (a little less than a minute in my microwave). Meanwhile, add 2 ice cubes to the liquid remaining in the pitcher and briefly blend on high until they’ve mixed/melted in. Pour this over the cooked batch and serve/eat immediately to maximize the temperature contrast. If you are eating it by yourself you can eat it straight out of the measuring cup.

For extra indulgence you can use baking chocolate instead of cocoa. The extra cocoa butter in the chocolate will make it more rich. (Or you could use sweetened chocolate and not add additional sugar.)

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