Chocolate Pots de Créme

Chocolate Pots de Créme is one of my favorite fancy desserts.

It doesn’t take very advanced French skills to recognize the goodness that would come in a little pot of cream. Add chocolate to that pot and you are speaking my language!

I always order pots de créme at restaurants but had never made it at home before. My neighbor Jody offered to bring it for dessert for Easter dinner and I felt sheepish about accepting her offer because all of the recipes I’d ever seen for Pots de Créme are complex. Make a custard, try not to let it curdle, cook in a water bath, chill several hours. Too many fussy steps – even for chocolate.

So imagine my delight when she said that not only did she have an easy recipe but it was also practically fool proof! No fuss, no muss, no worry. All of the ingredients go into the blender then right into the refrigerator.

Here’s what you need:

Chocolate Chips*, 1 egg, Sugar, Vanilla, Frangelico (or other flavored liqueur – optional but good), and milk. Whipped Cream and berries for topping.

Click here for a Chocolate Pots de Crème Shopping List

Note:  These need at least 2 hours to chill in the refrigerator to set up so plan ahead!

Crack 1 egg into the bottom of your blender.

It’s VERY important that the egg go into the bottom of the blender so it doesn’t get scrambled when you pour in the hot milk.

*The original recipe calls for 12 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate chips. By now you know me well enough to know that where semi-sweet is good, bittersweet is better. It’s dark chocolate all the way for me so I substituted my favorite Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips. Sadly, they come in a 10 ounce bag so you’ll either need to buy 2 bags to get 12 ounces, or you can toss in some extra chips that you might have lying around. That’s why you’ll see a few semis and a few white chocolate chips in there.

Next time I’ll go all bittersweet. The darker the better! Add 12 oz. of chocolate chips on top of the egg.

Pour in 3 Tablespoons of sugar.

Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 teaspoon flavored liqueur. I’m using Frangelico which is hazelnut flavored. Next time I’m going to try Grand Marnier for a hint of orange.

If you’re concerned about the alcohol, you can leave it out and add an extra teaspoon of vanilla for 2 teaspoons total.

Heat 1 cup of milk in a small sauce pan until it is very hot but not boiling. When you see all those tiny bubbles and just a bit of steam, the milk is ready.

Pour the hot milk into the blender, cover with a lid, and whip until smooth and combined.

The hot milk melts the chocolate and cooks the egg. Pretty slick.

Find some fancy cups or serving glasses and divide the chocolate mixture evenly among them.

The original recipe makes 12 – ¼ cup servings but I got piggy (and wanted to use my grandma’s antique dishes) so I made 6 – ½ cup servings.

This is very rich so maaaaaybe the bigger servings were a little over the top but I can report that we didn’t have any leftover. EVERY little dish was scraped clean.

Place your glasses carefully in the refrigerator and chill until they are firm and set, about 2 hours.

When you are ready to serve, top with whipped cream (I whipped my own with a hand mixer but you can also find real whipped cream in a can) and a few berries.

Do you remember the old commercials for Pudding in a Cloud with Bill Cosby?  That’s all I can think of when I look at this picture.

However, pudding never ever tasted this good!

Next time you need to wow someone with dessert, let Chocolate Pots de Créme be your secret weapon.

You don’t have to tell a soul how easy it is to make!

Here’s the recipe – Adapted from Jody Zankl

 Chocolate Pots de Crème

PS. Definitely remember (or Pin) this one for Valentine’s Day!