Secret Recipe Club February: Chocolate Pots de Créme

It's already been 2 months since the last round of Secret Recipe Club recipes, and I've been looking forward to the end of the break.
Anticipating the moment where you get the mail with your next assigned blog - searching that blog for the recipe you want to make - getting to know a little bit about the person behind it - these things have already become an important part of my blogging life.

This month, I had the pleasure of browsing through Fifteen Spatulas, written by Joanne from somewhere in the US (sorry, haven't been able to find your location!)
The blog is named after Joanne's favorite kitchen tool, the spatula - and I have to agree with her on this. You can never have too many spatulas - there's a spatula for different occasions, and each and every different shape and size have a purpose.
I only have 5.
I want more spatulas.

Joanne also has her own Youtube channel with recipe videos - be sure to check them out at http://www.youtube.com/user/FifteenSpatulas?feature=watch

So - which recipe to choose?
It was hard, as there were many great looking. But in the end, I had no doubt when I came across the recipe for Chocolate Pots de Créme.
We were planning to have friends over for dinner a couple of weeks before the reveal date, and since especially the wife is extremely fond of chocolate (to the point of partly naming their dog after it), it would be a great dessert to serve for them, plus doing it that day would give me plenty of time to finish the post.
So Chocolate Pots de Créme it was.

I had never heard the name Pots de Créme before, so I did a little investigating and found the link for Potsdecreme.com where you can read all about this lovely dessert. Actually the name doesn't just refer to the dish itself, but also to the lovely little pots it can be served in. Check out the link for more info about the history of the dessert, and different recipes with different flavours.

Joanne serves the custard in ramekins, but I chose to use some of my smaller glass canning jars - you have to cover the custard while it bakes, so it was easy to just use the lids instead of using foil, plus they could stay covered with the lids in the fridge, while they cool down and set.
Also, it seems to be very "in" to serve things in canning jars.
I don't mind being "in" for a few minutes.

The chocolate créme is served with a whipped cream with melted white chocolate in Joanne's version, and it was my intention to do so as well.

I failed miserably.

I don't know if the chocolate got too hot in the microwave (too lazy to do it over a water bath), or if it was because the whipping cream had been frozen - but I ended up with something resembling butter with a milky substance around it.

No, I did not whisk the cream too long. I know when to stop.

So instead I decided to just sprinkle some powdered sugar on top and serve with pomegranate kernels. They are fabulous and fresh with everything chocolate.

Chocolate Pots de Créme:
6-8 portions
adapted from Fifteenspatulas.com

½ liter / 2 cups whipping cream
2½ dl / 1 cup skim milk
175 g / 6 oz good quality dark chocolate (I used approx. 2/3 57% and 1/3 70%)
1 1/4 dl / ½ cup sugar
8 egg yolks (I used pasteurized to be on the safe side)
3 tbsp Amaretto liquer (I didn't have any)
1 tsp (homemade) vanilla extract

Turn on the oven on 160 degrees Celcius / 325 Fahrenheit.
Heat up cream and milk in a pan over medium heat until it is close to boiling.
Take the pan off the heat and add the chocolate - whisk until all the chocolate is melted.
In a big bowl, mix sugar, egg yolks, Amaretto (if using this) and vanilla with an electrical mixer until the mixture is thick, light and creamy and the sugar is dissolved. Slowly pour the cream/chocolate mix into the eggs while still mixing - continue until all the chocolate has been added.
You can strain the mixture into another bowl to make sure no eggs have been scrambled due to the heat. I didn't since it didn't become a problem.
Pour the chocolate mixture into 6-8 small canning glass jars and put on the lids.
Place jars in a baking dish - fill the dish with water so it reaches halfway up the jars.
Bake for 45 minutes until the chocolate mixture begins to set. It may rise a bit while baking, and then *pooof* fall down a bit again after you take it out of the oven, but this doesn't affect the taste.

Let the jars cool off a bit and put them in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
Remove the lids and serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar (it looks nice to sprinkle it on the glass itself as well as on the chocolate in the glass. Or maybe I am just saying this because I did it by accident) and pomegranate kernels.

Conclusion:

This is a wonderful rich and creamy chocolate dessert - I really like that it is baked compared to a "raw" chocolate mousse, and Hubby and our friends also enjoyed it.
I didn't mind that the white chocolate cream failed - it was very refreshing with the pomegranate kernels, and I think it could easily have been too sweet with the white chocolate as well.
Thank you Joanne for a wonderful recipe, and for being my "SRC pal" this month :-)

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