Mother Daniel's Orange - Chocolate Pots de Creme

By Mother_Daniel

I stole Martha Stewart's Pots de Creme recipe a number of years ago when it appeared in "Everyday Food" magazine. I made a few changes and made it mine. Easy, beautiful, silky textured orange-chocolate heaven. It doesn't get much easier or better than this!

Ingredients

• 1 C. heavy cream
• 1 C. whole milk
• Peel of two oranges (peel only, no white)
• 4 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (oin a pinch, chocolate chips
• will be just fine)
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/3 C. sugar
• 1/4 t. salt
• 2 t. pure vanilla extract
• Boiling water
• Whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Details

Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 275mins
Adapted from marthastewart.com

Preparation

Step 1

reheat oven to 325 degrees with a rack in the lower third. Place eight 4-ounce pots de creme pots or ramekins in a medium roasting pan; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine cream and milk and heat to medium; Just as the milk mixture begins to simmer (when small bubbles begin to form in the milk at the sides of the pan), add the orange peel and turn off heat.

Let peel steep in milk mixture for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove peel and bring milk mixture back up to medium heat. Add chocolate and bring almost to a simmer then remove from the heat. Set aside, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted.

In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and salt. While whisking, add a little of the hot milk mixture to the egg mixture to combine. Add the remaining milk mixture, and whisk to combine. Whisk in vanilla. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve (to remove any solids) into a large liquid measure.

Pour approximately 1/2 cup of the egg mixture into each pots de creme pot. You can use custard cups, oven safe tea or coffee cups, too. Just remember the larger the cup, the fewer the servings.

Transfer the roasting pan to the oven. Fill pan with enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the pots de creme pots. Bake until the custards are just set in the center, about 35 minutes.

Remove the roasting pan from oven. Remove the pots de creme pots from the water, and place on a wire rack to cool. When completely cooled, cover, and transfer to refrigerator.

Chill for at least 4 hours and up to overnight. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream, if desired.


Tasty Options:

Infuse hot milk with a whole cinnamon stick for twenty minutes before adding chocolate. Remove cinnamon stick, reheat milk, and proceed with balance of instructions.