Little Chocolate Pots with Coffee-Banana Biscotti

These are utterly addictive. The biscotti are a nice addition but not essential. You could substitute a store-bought variety or just serve the chocolate pots with a jug of double cream for people to pour into the gaps left by their spoons.

320g dark chocolate, roughly chopped 5 eggs, at room temperature 300ml cream

Put the chocolate in a food processor and blitz to rubble. Add the eggs, but don’t turn on the machine just yet. Heat the cream to a boiling point, then turn on the processor and pour the hot cream down the tube. Whiz briefly until smooth, then pour into six ramekins or glasses. Put the glasses on a small tray, drape a clean tea towel over the top and transfer to the fridge to set (about four hours). Remove the chocolate pots from the fridge for about 10 minutes before serving to take the chill off. Serves 6

COFFEE-BANANA BISCOTTI

If making these very non-traditional biscotti with gluten-free flour, you may need to add a couple of extra tablespoons if the mixture seems very wet.

1 large overripe banana, mashed to a purée (about ¾ cup)

½ teaspoon vanilla or rum essence

¾ cup plain flour (use gluten-free flour if desired) ¼ cup (50g) dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1½ teaspoons espresso coffee grounds

½ cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and roughly chopped

Heat the oven to 180°C and line a standard loaf tin with baking paper.

Put the mashed banana and essence in a bowl and stir to combine. Sift in the dry ingredients along with a pinch of salt and stir briefly, then tip in the hazelnuts. Mix to a soft dough, then pour it into the prepared loaf tin.

Bake for 25 minutes, then remove from the oven. Lift out of the loaf tin and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Turn the oven to 150°C. Line a small baking tray with baking paper.

Using a sharp, serrated knife, cut the log into 1cm slices. Put the slices on the prepared tray and bake for another 15 minutes, turning them over halfway through. They should feel dry to touch when they are done, but not completely dried out.

Let them cool on a rack before storing them in an airtight jar. Makes about 15 biscuits