168 – Chili Pepper Chocolate Pot de Crème Recipe – Valentine’s Day Special

Ingredients :

• 7 oz (200 grams) of dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa)
• 1 1/2 cup of whole milk
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 5 egg yolks
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of chili pepper (or another spice of your choice, e.g. ground cinnamon or cardamom)
• Boiling water

Directions :

1. The most important ingredient in this recipe is chocolate! Make sure to get a very good dark chocolate with at least 60% cacao content. Since we are flavoring our dessert with chili pepper you can also pick chocolate that is already flavored with chili.
We will need 7 ounces, which is 200 grams, of chocolate. Using a sharp knife, finely chop the chocolate and place it in a large bowl.
2. In a sauce pan mix 1 ½ cups of whole milk and ½ cup of heavy cream. Cook on medium heat for a few minutes then add ¼ teaspoon of hot chili pepper. You can of course use a different spice for example ground cinnamon or cardamom or just omit this step for a natural chocolate flavor. Cook the mixture until it becomes hot but do not boil it – you should remove it from the heat when you start seeing bubbles on the surface.
3. While the milk and cream are heating prepare the egg yolk mixture. We need 5 egg yolks, a pinch of salt, and 1/3 cup of sugar.  Beat the egg yolks until you get a white mixture.
Pour a little bit of the hot milk and cream over the egg yolk mixture. Whisk the egg yolks while doing so. This step is to temper the egg yolks, which means to raise their temperature without cooking them. Once the liquid and egg yolks are mixed, pour the entire milk and cream and keep whisking until all the ingredients are combined.
4. Clean your sauce pan as we are going to use it again. Strain the yolk-milk mixture while pouring it back into the sauce pan. Cook on medium heat for only 3-5 minutes until the mixture is a little bit thicker, while stirring constantly. Make sure not to overcook it!
5. Now pour a bit of the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and mix until the chocolate melts. Add the remaining cream mixture to the chocolate. Mix well.
Using a hand mixer or blender, blend the chocolate cream until it becomes smooth. At the end, use a wooden spoon or whisk to gently stir the chocolate cream to get rid of all the bubbles created during the mixing.
6. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Almost done! Place 4 ramequins, which are these small ceramic pots into a baking pan. You can also use glass cups or something cuter – look at these mini milk bottles I found!
Using a ladle, pour some of the chocolate mixture into the pots.
Place the baking pan in the hot oven and pour boiling water in the baking pan until the water reaches half of the height of the ramequins.
Bake for 25 minutes.
7. The cream pots are ready! Remove them from the baking pan, let them cool down a bit on your kitchen counter, then place them in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
And That’s it – call your sweetheart and make sure to give them some of the chocolate cream before your eat it all yourself!!! Hmmmmm… hey don’t lick your computer screen!!!! Bonne appétit!