The Cooking Chronicles: Chocolate Pot du Crème

Knowing that I would have company over on the weekend, I planned ahead and made Chocolate Pot du Crème (a recipe from my handy Better Homes & Gardens cookbook) on Friday night.

Essentially denser, unwhipped chocolate mousse, the recipe was of the "prepare ahead" variety that my personal entertainment guru, Ina Garten, would have approved of. I did, however, have to separate egg yolks and whites for the first time (and learned quickly that the trick is to ensure that the shell is broken down the middle, otherwise there ends up being not enough of a 'cup' to transfer the yolk back and forth into).

I poured the mixtures into individual clear glass dessert cups, purchased earlier at Dollarama (a surprising boon for cooks seeking cheap but functional serving ware), and put them in the fridge to set overnight.

I was quite happy with the final product. I chose to top each serving off with raspberries in addition to white chocolate curls, which helped temper the richness of the chocolate and added some great color as well. One thing - it wasn't as smooth as I would have liked, and an immersion blender in this case would have come in handy.

Though I prefer the lighter panna cotta, Annie commented that the pot du crème made for a nice winter dessert. It may be worth making again with flavor substitutions.

Chocolate Pot du Crème with Raspberries and White Chocolate Shavings