Chocolate Pots de Creme

This is an amazingly decadent chocolate dessert that would be great for a special occasion.  We first tried this dessert at (of all places) a  pizza restaurant called “Joe Mama’s”  in Port St. Joe, FL.  At Joe Mama’s, they sold more of this dessert than  any other on their menu.    We absolutely loved it and I had to find a recipe for it.  This is a must try!

Ingredients:

9 ounces high quality semi-sweet chocolate (I used two bars of Ghirardelli chocolate which equals 8 ounces, plus one ounce of regular semi-sweet chocolate I already had such as Baker’s or Hershey’s)

1 1/2 cups of whole milk (you can buy a small lunch-box size container instead of a gallon if you don’t typically use whole milk)

1 cup heavy cream

6 egg yolks (you can save the egg whites until the next day and use them in my Sawdust Pie, found in another post)

5 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Whipped cream for topping (the whipped cream in a can is handy for this recipe because you can just squirt it on for garnish)

Chop the chocolate on a cutting board with a knife, then place it in a blender.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together the milk, cream, egg yolks, sugar, and salt.

Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is almost boiling and the mixture coats the back of a spoon.  This is the only slightly tricky part.  When it is ready, it will be very hot and on the verge of boiling and the coating on the back of the spoon will have a little thicker consistency than milk.  Depending on the thickness of your pan and the intensity of the heat, it’ll probably take about 10 minutes or so to reach this point.

When you reach this point, pour the hot mixture over the chopped chocolate in the blender, and hold lid in place with a kitchen towel to protect your hand from the heat.

Blend until combined and smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender if needed.

Pour the chocolate mixture into ramekins or custard dishes, or small cups and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.  This can be made the day ahead and refrigerated until ready to serve.  To serve, top with a dollop of whipped cream.