Classic French Chocolate Pots de Crème
Outside of France, for some reason, Pots de Crème are the underdog of French custards. They don’t receive nearly as much love as crème brulées do – but if you go to France, it’s a whole different story. The French love their dairy products: yogurts of all kinds and what we call the “crèmes desserts”. If you ever visit a French supermarket, you will assuredly stumble on our entire refrigerated aisle(s) devoted to yogurts, fromages blancs, flans, mousses, faisselles and all kinds of custards and heavenly pots de crèmes. When…
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 30 min
- Yield
- 6 servings
- Difficulty
- EASY
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 400ml heavy cream (35%)
- 6 oz (180g) semi-sweet dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 4 large egg yolks
- ¼ cup (50g) sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Whipped cream and chocolate shavings, for serving.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1 – Preheat your oven to 325F(160C) with a rack in the middle.
- 2
Step 2 – In a medium saucepan, slowly warm up the heavy cream with the chopped chocolate over medium-low heat. Do not bring up to a boil – just warm up enough to melt the chocolate. Stir occasionally and remove from the heat when the chocolate is melted.
- 3
Step 3 – In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and salt together for 2 minutes until pale and fluffy. Pour 2 tablespoons of the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture and whisk (this tempers the egg yolks so they don’t curdle later). Slowly stir in the rest of the hot cream while continuously whisking.
- 4
Step 4 – Fill 6 small [120ml – ½ cup] pots or ramekins with the chocolate cream. Place the pots into a large baking dish and fill this dish with hot water ¾ up the sides of the pots.
- 5
Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and carefully remove the ramekins from the baking dish. Let cool completely to room temperature before covering with plastic wrap and refrigerating.
- 6
Chill for at least 3 hours before enjoying. For serving, top each pot with a dollop of whipped cream and chocolate shavings.