I may or may not currently feel somewhat like death, despite feeling incredibly successful and excited about today! We woke up at 4 am this morning, which is a solid five hours earlier than usual, after less than five hours of sleep… and then spent the morning on airplanes and are now in Missouri! I am a miserable flier, as I can’t sleep AT ALL, so early travel mornings really just mean LONG, sleepy days.
Whew. Can I stop complaining yet? Sorry ’bout that. I finally arrived in Kansas City this afternoon around one o’clock, made my way to my uber charming AirBnB accommodations, and promptly refused to take a nap. I figured, with three more early morning ahead of me, an early bedtime would be much more beneficial than a lazy afternoon nap. MUSH ON! I got organized, then headed out to see the Kansas City sights! Oh my!
So far, KC reminds me a lot of both Cleveland and St. Louis. The weather, of course, is very midwestern! It’s actually semi-welcome, as it was 72 and verging on thunderstorms today. I walked around the modern art museums and through their sculpture gardens, and was absolutely sweating in my short sleeved shirt and jeans: when did I get to be such a wimp about heat? Apparently I’m a Montanan now… and that worries me for our upcoming living plans.
After taking in as much art and beautiful scenery as I could, I headed up to the Power and Light district — apparently a trendy “new” area of downtown with plenty to do and see. I splurged and pampered myself with a (surprisingly affordable) manicure, checked out a very fancy grocery store, eyed many restaurants for the next few days, and amazingly held back on buying any cute clothes (and trust me, there were cute clothes)!. Then, I headed over to Arthur Bryant’s, a highly-recommended bbq place, which was delicious and an experience in itself! Now I’m flat on my back regretting the immense bbq sandwich I inhaled, and eagerly awaiting my self-appointed 8 pm bedtime.
I’ll leave you with these simple, quick, easy, gluten-free, cute little cakes! I saw these from A Couple Cooks a few months ago and immediately knew I would love them. I was right! They’re superb! I especially like that it only makes two little cakes, which is really all we can handle sometimes. With the constant flow of sugary sweets in our house, having an appropriate serving size (a lesson I clearly could learn more about) makes worrying about leftovers a non-issue. Win win!
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PinIngredients
- ½ cup raw almonds (or almond meal)
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch cayenne
- 3 Tbsp butter, plus a bit for buttering the ramekins
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 egg, beaten
- powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly butter two small ramekins, and set aside.
- In a food processor, pulse the almonds until they are a fine powder (but don’t make them into a butter!). Mix in the cinnamon, salt, and cayenne. Set aside.
- In a microwave-safe dish, combine the butter, sugar, and chocolate chips. Microwave for one minute, then in 30-second increments, stirring until the chocolate chips are completely melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Whisk in the beaten egg, then add the almond meal mixture. Mix until smooth, divide between the ramekins, and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Dust with powdered sugar for serving.
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Amanda says
What about cocoa powder instead of chips?
Mary says
Hi Amanda! I haven’t personally tried that, but you’d definitely have to add more sugar and butter, to compensate. I’ve heard that for every ounce of semi sweet you can sub 3 tbsp cocoa powder, plus 3 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp butter. Let me know how it works out! Xo
Andre says
Hi, I can´t use sugar, can I subsitute it for honey?
Mary says
Hi Andre! I’ve not tried it with honey, or done much baking with honey, but I think that would work! You might do some research on replacing sugar with honey before proceeding — let me know how it goes! xo
Roxanna Esquivel says
I don’t have ramekins. Could I use any other type of pan? Should they not rise?
Roxanna Esquivel says
*would. Would they not rise I a larger pan? What would the equivalent volume be?
Mary says
Hmm that’s a great question, Roxanna. Do you have muffin tins? They’d work in a large (or normal) muffin tin, or you could even use mugs!