Saturday, March 5, 2011

Stephen and Chocolate Pot de Creme!

"Stephen" Nicholas Boggs turns 3!

Chocolate Pot de Creme!




Our sweet little Stephen turned 3 years old on March 1st. I can't believe our little guy is growing so fast. He isn't much shorter than his older brother, Joshua. He is an affectionate little sweety one minute and a bull-headed little sweetie the next! When we asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner, all he could say was, "Chocolate Pot de Creme". And he would say it perfectly clear every time. For someone who has never had or heard of chocolate pot de creme, they would have known exactly what he was saying. I was just trying to figure out what to fix him for our meal and all he could think about was chocolate! Well, we finally did get hot dogs out of him. He loves those things and we never have them.

Keith had mentioned a couple of weeks earlier that he would like a chili dog and so here I am faced with the possibility of serving hotdogs for our meal. I know you are telling me to get real. What will one meal hurt? Well, I agree. But, I did decide to go out and look for a healthy hotdog and then try some homemade whole wheat hotdog buns and wahlah...we have turned a terribly unhealthy meal into something that I felt like we could consider to do pretty regular. Especially since two of my favorite guys in the whole world asked for them. I was a bit nervous that Keith would tell me to never do the wheat hotdog buns again, but he didn't! He said he like them and so I will have to share those with you another time, since this post is really about chocolate pot de creme and not hotdogs!

Ok...Pot de creme actually means "pot of cream" and is a traditional French custard typically served in a pot-shaped cup. So, a special thank you goes out to all the French people out there. This is one dynamic, easy, delicious dessert! It is a family favorite and is requested for birthday treats and special meal times at our house. I hope you will try it and I hope you enjoy it.  

Just like any other recipe, the best cream and chocolate you can find will take this dessert to another level. When I can't get a hold of some raw, fresh, organic cream then I usually buy Horizon's organic heavy cream and I also look for the organic chocolate bars that are on sale that have atleast 60 percent cocoa in them. A couple of favorite brands of ours are "Green and Black" and "Newman's Own". 

Chocolate Pot de Creme

2 cups whipping cream
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup sucanat
4 beaten egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
White Chocolate Curls (optional)

In a medium heavy saucepan combine the whipping cream, chocolate, and sucanat. Cook and stir over medium heat about 10 minutes or until the mixture begins to boil and thicken. GRADUALLY stir all of the hot mixture into the beaten eggs. Do this slowly, so you don't cook the eggs. Stir in vanilla. Divide the cream into 8 sake cups or 8 3-ounce ramkins. Cover and chill for 4 to 24 hours before serving. You can garnish these with little curls of white chocolate. You could also add a a tablespoon of instant expresso coffee powder to whipping cream and turn this into a Mocha Pot de Creme.  

So easy and so worth the wait. It is just enough because of the richness of it and it will finish off any meal with a bit of pleasure all around the table. Even if you serve it after hotdogs.

Enjoy and God Bless,

Nichole

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