What do you do with 12 egg yolks leftover from making angel food cake? If you also have espresso powder and a chocolate bunny leftover from Easter, you could make chocolate espresso pots de crème.
The Story
When I found this recipe on Epicurious while searching for recipes using egg yolks, I was instantly drawn to it. Never having made pots de crème before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. According to Wikipedia, pots de crème is a French dessert and means “pots of custard.” Chocolate, coffee and custard sounded good to me.
The recipe called for bittersweet chocolate. I didn’t have any. Then I spied a milk chocolate bunny in my pantry.
As I chopped up the bunny and stirred it into the warm cream, I felt like the crazy lady in Fatal Attraction who stewed that poor bunny. After baking the pots, I put them in the refrigerator to cool overnight and tried to put the images of the chopped chocolate bunny out of my mind.
The next evening, the weather was warm, the pots de crème were cool and the chocolate bunny slaying was long forgotten as Ken and I enjoyed our desserts on the front porch.
The Moral of the Story
Savor life’s sweet moments — and seize a moment to try making a new dessert — even if it means you have to sacrifice a chocolate bunny.
About the Recipe
This recipe is from Epicurious. Other than the chocolate bunny substitution, I made it exactly as directed. It turned out smooth, creamy and delicious. The espresso flavor complemented the milk chocolate bunny nicely.
The Cast of Characters
The chocolate bunny is the hero in this story, making the ultimate sacrifice.
The Play-by-Play
Chop your chocolate bunny, or regular chocolate bar, and place it in a heat-safe bowl.
In a saucepan, add the heavy cream, milk and salt. Stir in the espresso powder.
Warm until the espresso powder is dissolved.
Pour the warm cream and coffee mixture over the chopped chocolate.
Whisk until the chocolate is melted.
In a large mixing cup, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and a pinch of salt.
Slowly whisk the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.
Pour the custard through a strainer into another large mixing cup, and let cool.
Place ramekins into a baking dish.
Pour the cool custard into the ramekins.
Add hot water to the baking dish.
Cover with tinfoil that has been pierced with a toothpick, and bake for 30 minutes.
Place the ramekins on a wire rack to cool. Once cool, cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, garnish with whipped cream and toasted coconut — and serve!
Recipe: Chocolate Espresso Pots de Creme
Summary: A light, creamy dessert buzzing with chocolate and coffee flavor
Ingredients & Instructions
For the complete recipe, see the Chocolate Espresso Pots de Creme recipe on Epicurious. Instead of using bittersweet chocolate, try a milk chocolate bunny or bar.
The Footnotes
- Straining the chocolate: The chocolate bunny I used had rice crispies in it, so I strained them out during the cooking process. If you use regular bittersweet chocolate as per the original recipe, you probably wouldn’t need to strain it.
- Tempering the egg: Let the chocolate mixture cool slightly before whisking in the egg — so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs.
Number of servings (yield): 3 servings
(Please note: I reduced the ingredients in the original recipe for 8 in half, but didn’t end up with enough custard to fill 4 ramekins. Somehow, I only had enough for 3 ramekins.)
Meal type: dessert
My rating:
Additional Resources
Here are some other pots de crème flavors I thought sounded fabulous.
- Lemon Lavender Pots de Crème by Baked Bree
- Honey Lemon Pots de Crème by Tartelette
- Maple Pots de Crème by Flour Child
- Chocolate Raspberry Pots de Crème by The Pastry Affair
- Apple Butter Pots de Crème by Fork Spoon Knife
- S’more Chocolate Pots by Raspberri Cupcakes
These look perfect!! I love that you used a chopped Easter Bunny!
Thanks! Now that the bunny is gone, I am wondering what to do about the Peeps chicks I also have leftover from Easter. 🙂
Chocolate is my very favorite thing in the whole world. I’ve always wanted to make pots de creme. I think they’ve always seemed intimidating, but you made them look easy. Now I’m feeling confident.
The pots de creme were much easier to make than I expected too. Hope you give them a try.