The Adventures in the Kitchen Continue.....

The adventures in the kitchen continue....I've officially moved to Utah and I'm all unpacked and settled.  What better way to start off this new experience in Utah than with an experience in the kitchen.  I have two cousins that also live here in Utah.  They had a family dinner planned for Sunday and I was invited to attend.  I offered to bring a dessert to contribute.  I wanted to do something new, but not too complicated.  It had been a long week and weekend of moving and unpacking, so I was pretty beat.  The request was for something with chocolate, so I decided to try something called a chocolate pot de crème.  A pot de crème is a loose French custard.  Traditionally, it is baked in the oven in a  water bath, but the recipe that I used didn't call for that.  The recipe was very simple.  It's basically like a chocolate pudding, but with a richer flavor.  You take sugar, cream, and semi-sweet chocolate and bring them to a boil.  

Then you add the hot cream and chocolate mixture slowly to some beaten egg yolks and a little vanilla extract.  Once that is all mixed together you pour it into ramekins, cover and chill for a few hours.  I chilled mine overnight and they were fine.  I decided to top it with a little unsweetened whipped cream and some semi-sweet chocolate shavings.

It was the perfect size dessert with a wonderful rich chocolatey flavoring.  I'd like to try it some time the traditional way with a hot water bath just to see if there is a difference in taste or texture.  The pots de crèmes seemed to be liked and enjoyed by all.  This was a nice way to start the new experiences here in Utah.  More to come!  Happy Cooking!