The Jamie Oliver book I got the other week mentioned that you can make pasta from pretty much any liquid and flour. I liked the idea, and immediately started thinking of dessert pastas. Brilliant!

Ingredients:

• 13.5 ounces all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• less than 3/4 cup orange juice + 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 dozen or so Hershey’s miniatures
• 2-3 cups powdered sugar
• cocoa powder and flour, for rolling
• water for gluing

Start off by freezing the chocolate bars, unwrapped, for several hours.

Crack the egg into a measuring cup, and fill the remainder of the way up to 3/4 of a cup with juice.

Put the flour in the bowl of a food processor and, with the processor running, pour the liquid in. Continue processing until smooth and elastic, 2-4 minutes.

I found the dough very spongy at this stage.

Cover it and let it sit for 20 minutes at room temperature.

After the rest, pull off about a quarter of the dough, roughly a handful. Recover the rest and set aside. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to crepe thickness. Fold it in thirds like a letter.

Fold that in half the other way.

Roll out crepe-thin again, and fold the same way. Roll out a third time as thin as possible, and set aside.

Roll out a second portion of the dough the same way. After rolling out the second quarter of the dough, cover the first part you rolled out with a lightly moistened paper towel.

Roll out the next portion of dough using cocoa powder instead of flour.

Cover the second piece of dough that you rolled out with flour with a lightly moistened paper towel, and roll out the remaining portion of dough in cocoa powder.

Brush the first piece of dough you rolled in cocoa with a bit of water and place chocolate bars on it with over a centimeter between each.

This one's not actually brushed with water yet, I was just checking out how many would fit.

Take the first piece of white dough and press it over the chocolate, pressing it down firmly between the chocolate bars. Cut between each.

Trim the pasta down so that there isn’t a ton of extra around each chocolate, and press the edges shut firmly around the chocolate bar. Set prepared ravioli aside to dry slightly. Place a large pot of water on the stove to boil.

Do the same with the other half of the pasta, then put the first plate of prepared ravioli in the water. After dropping them in the pot, stir once to make sure they’re not stuck to the bottom then leave until they float. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside to dry. They cooked in 3 or 4 minutes for me. Boil the second plate of ravioli after the first.

The pasta rolled in cocoa stays nicely chocolate looking, which I had been unsure about. The chocolate in the middle is gooey but should stay inside.

Whisk together the orange juice and powdered sugar until a good pouring glaze thickness, then pour over the ravioli like pasta sauce.

…I don’t actually have any pictures of eating it like proper humans, which we did at work the day after I made it. At home, Kyle and I just dipped the ravioli in the sauce and ate them over the sink. Classy!

You can do pasta with, I think, pretty much any liquid you want, in about the same way. You can use other flours, too, but you’ll need at least some all-purpose so that you’ve got enough gluten formation.

Chocolate Orange Ravioli

• 13.5 ounces all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• less than 3/4 cup orange juice + 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 dozen or so Hershey’s miniatures
• 2-3 cups powdered sugar
• cocoa powder and flour, for rolling
• water for gluing

Unwrap and freeze the chocolate bars several hours before you want to start.

Crack an egg into a measuring cup, and fill the remainder of the way up to 3/4 of a cup with orange juice. Put the flour in the bowl of a food processor and add the liquid with the processor running. Continue processing until smooth and elastic, 2-4 minutes. Cover the dough and let sit for 20 minutes at room temperature.

After the rest, take one quarter of the dough and recover the rest. On a floured surface, roll the quarter of the dough out to crepe thickness. Fold it in thirds like a letter, then in half the other way. Roll out again, and fold a second time. Roll out a third time, as thin as possible, then set aside.

Roll out a second quarter of the dough the same way, then cover the first rolled out piece with a lightly moistened paper towel. Roll out the third quarter using cocoa powder instead of flour, then cover the second piece of rolled out dough with a lightly moistened paper towel. Roll out the remaining quarter of the dough in cocoa powder.

Lightly brush the first piece of cocoa-rolled dough with water. Place frozen chocolate bars at least a centimeter apart on the dough, then cover with the first piece of flour-rolled dough. Cut off excess pasta to the sides of the chocolate, then press together the edges around the pasta to close. Set aside the ravioli to dry.

Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Make the second two pieces together to create a second batch of ravioli. Boil the first batch of ravioli until they float, 3-4 minutes. Remove the pasta from the water with a slotted spoon and allow to dry.

Whisk together the 1/2 cup orange juice and the powdered sugar, then pour like pasta sauce on the raviolis.