chocolate pot de creme: this is a wonderful feeling

A love story. 

One day, long ago, chocolate and I met. It was love at first bite. We've been together ever since that first encounter, that I can no longer remember the details of. But it doesn't matter anyway because all I know is, I love chocolate. And chocolate loves me back.  And it also doesn't get jealous when it's shared with someone else. This time, in form of pots de creme. So simple, so creamy and so smooth. Chocolate and I, we're going to last a long time. I can just feel it. 

A short and sweet story. 

Oh and in other news, my classes are now over and I am on stage (internship, in french) at a beautiful new French pastry shop just minutes away from my house. There are only two people working in the lab and it's wonderful. I've already been allowed to do more things than at any of my other stages. The products are of really nice quality and the place is absolutely gorgeous. And the owners (a young French couple) are very sweet and we all sit down for lunch together at the end of the shift. I'm really lucky so far. But more on that at another time!

Chocolate Pots de Creme

Serves about 6, depending on size of ramekins

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups (340 ml) heavy cream

1 1/3 cups (340 ml) 2% milk

6 oz (185 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

6 large egg yolks

1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar

Procedure

Preheat oven to 300F. In a small sauce pan, heat up the cream, milk and chopped chocolate over medium heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is hot but not boiling. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk the yolks and sugar until paler in colour. Slowly pour the hot cream mixture into the yolks while constantly whisking to temper the yolks. Pour the custard through a fine sieve into a measuring jar. Try to remove the foam off the top with a spoon. Pour evenly into six (180 ml) ramekins and place the ramekins in a roasting pan. (refer back to the method for creme caramel). Pour very hot water half way up the sides of the ramekins and cover with aluminum foil.

Bake until centers only wobble a little after 50-60 minutes. (If you give them a shake, they should only ripple back and forth once. If the ripple a lot they are not done yet). Remove from oven and let them cool completely in the pan. Cover and refrigerate until chilled and set, about 2 hours or preferably overnight.