Pots de Creme
A French delicacy that dates all the way back to the 1700s, bring some chocolatey goodness into your kitchen with these simple pots de creme.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: N/A
Author: Ireland Lindsay
Ingredients:
9 ounces high-quality semisweet chocolate chips or a few roughly chopped bars
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (a reminder to reserve ½ cup for whipped cream)
6 large egg yolks
5 tablespoons granulated sugar (add an extra tablespoon if using bitter chocolate)
1/4 teaspoon salt
PLACE the chocolate in a blender. Whisk the milk, 1 cup cream, egg yolks, granulated sugar and salt in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, until the mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon and almost boiling, 5 to 6 minutes.
IMMEDIATELY pour the milk mixture over the chocolate in the blender. Cover and hold the lid with a thick kitchen towel; blend until combined and smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the blender as needed. Divide the chocolate mixture among ramekins or small cups and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.
WHIP the remaining 1/2 cup cream with a mixer or in the blender until soft peaks form. Top the chilled pots de creme with whipped cream.
RECIPE NOTES:
If you don’t have a blender, no need to worry. I’ve included a few alterations you’ll want to make when doing this by hand!
1. Use a whisk
The whole point of the blender is to incorporate air so if you are not using one make sure to grab your whisk and whip the chocolatey mixture till you see a few bubbles gathering on the side of the bowl.
2. Strain your mixture
When you make the custard, you may notice a few solid bits near the end- don’t panic, that’s completely normal! What is it? These are simply pieces of the egg yolks that just cooked faster than the rest of the mixture.
When using a blender, the high-powered blade will cut through any chunks, but that whisk…not so much. Using a strainer will help ensure that smooth pots de creme texture!
