You know that song about heaven missing an angel? I am pretty sure it was written about these. And before you say, “that looks too fancy for me to make” read the recipe and see how simple it actually is. Our friend and brother came to visit this weekend and luckily, these guys enjoy food as much as we do. Kyle planned on making a French inspired dinner so I wanted to make a complimentary dessert. I had planned to make creme brulee, but didn’t get enough whipping cream so I had to go back to the drawing board. The result was a super decadent to eat, impressive to look at and easy to prepare dessert.

Trust me…

Chocolate Pots de Creme

makes about 6 individual 4 oz. servings

Ingredients

• 8 oz. semisweet chocolate (2 boxes of the Baker’s brand bars or 1/2 bag of chocolate chips)
• 1.5 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 6 egg yolks
• 4 TBL sugar
• pinch of salt

How to:

1. Break up chocolate into pieces and put in your blender or food processor. Pulse it until it becomes like a coarse powder.
2. Separate your eggs so you just have the yolks (save the whites for an omelet or something!), whisk in the sugar just until blended.
3. In a saucepan over medium heat, whisk together milk, heavy cream, egg & sugar mixture and a pinch of salt. Cook this for about 5 minutes while stirring constantly. Watch the temp of your burner. You don’t want this to get to a boil. Just a very, very light simmer. Cook until your mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon (see photo). Take off the heat.
4. Pour the mixture directly into your blender over that chocolate powder from earlier. Pulse your blender until everything is smooth and incorporated, scraping the sides if you need to. Divide among ramekins (6) and give each one a few little taps to get out the air bubbles. Put in the fridge to chill for about 3 hours.

This is what “coating the back of a wooden spoon” looks like.

Ready for the fridge.

Toppings (optional, but encouraged!)

Whip Cream

• 1/2 c. whipping cream
• 1 t. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 1/2 Tablespoon powdered sugar

1. Whip it all together!

Fruit Topping

• 2 heaping tablespoons cherry preserves (you could do raspberry, blackberry etc.)
• splash of whiskey

1. In a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat heat the preserves. Once they start to bubble a bit, add the whiskey. Enjoy the poof of whiskey aroma as the alcohol cooks off and then let it simmer for just a minute more. Remove from heat.

The final moment…. Your pots should be set and firm. Top with the whip cream, add a drizzle of the warm fruit and then prepare to sit around the table in silence while everyone savors these pots of deliciousness!

Side note: I have ramekins, so I used those. But since there is no actual cooking in the vessel, you could use tea cups, little jars, etc.