Whenever Bear and I have to travel for business, we take full advantage of the experience and eat at restaurants we couldn’t quite rationalize eating at on our own budget. At one of those restaurants we splurged for dessert and ordered what the waitress recommended – Chocolate Pot du Creme. We ended up fighting each other over it until I finally abandoned any pretense of dignity and stuck my fingers straight in the bowl to lick up any extras.
Pot du Creme was new to me, but it’s another variation of the French custard desserts. You might have had Creme Brulee on a fancy night, Pot du Creme is Creme Brulee without the sugar crust, and this chocolate version is like the most decadent, smoothest, luxurious pudding you’ve ever tasted.
4 egg yolks
3 whole eggs
5 oz sugar
1 qt half and half
4 oz dark chocolate
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
Whisk the eggs and the sugar together until combined. Heat the half and half until scalding, then add the chocolate after you’ve chopped it into teeny tiny pieces. Lower the heat and watch it carefully so you don’t burn the milk or the chocolate, and stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Slowly add a bit at a time to the egg mixture. Adding too much at once will cook the eggs too quickly and you’ll have chocolate flavored scrambled eggs.
To make sure you get rid of any egg bits, strain the mixture. Pour into ramekins, or special pot du creme cups if you’re fancy, and skim off any foam. Place the pots in a water bath by filling a baking dish with a couple of inches of hot water and arranging the ramekins inside it. Of course, make sure the water can’t reach the top of the ramekins. Cover the pan with aluminum foil.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until custard is set. Allow to cool, then chill in the refrigerator for at least a few hours.
The hardest part of this whole dessert is just melting the chocolate. But between the fancy French name and the fancy French taste, you will knock the socks off your Thanksgiving dinner guests. And even better, it can be made even a couple days ahead so you don’t have to fight with the pies for oven time.
When Bear made this he made more than we could ever eat between the two of us, and it was too good to go to waste, so I came up with a way to just drink the stuff. With about half the chocolate cream mixture, and half milk, this made the greatest hot chocolate ever.
