No Bake Pots De Crème

I promised my daughter Pots De Crème* a long time ago. Today, I finally made good that promise because I realised my semi-sweet chocolate chips were expiring soon! Ooops. Heh. Well, she doesn't need to know. ;)
* Pronounced "poh duh KREHM".

Anyway, I searched around for Pots De Crème recipes, and noticed they all involved either raw eggs or baking in a water bath. Hmmmm, not exactly my cuppa. I wanted a chocolate custard that was cooked in a saucepan and then poured into serving glasses of my choice, before getting chilled in the refrigerator. Does this still count as Pots De Crème? Oh, it doesn't matter. I just wanted convenience.



So I googled "no bake pots de creme" and grabbed the first recipe that surfaced from the Net. It turned out to be really easy and fuss-free. In fact, it was quite similar to making Crème Pâtissière. Best of all, there was no baking involved, and within an hour, we could all delve into the creamy centres of these wicked Pots of Cream.

Recipe
(from heights eats)

- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 tsp instant espresso powder (or instant coffee)
- 115g semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, or a combination
- 6 egg yolks
- 3 tbsp sugar (I halved it because I was using semi-sweet chocolate)
- Dash of salt (preferably sea salt)

Note: I halved the recipe but kept the amount of semi-sweet chocolate as stated (I had to finish up as much chocolate chips as I could, right?) ... and that resulted in a firmer texture. Nonetheless, it was heavenly ... melt-in-the-mouth rich and velvety smooth when eaten.

1. Heat the cream, espresso powder and chocolate in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, beat together the egg yolks, sugar and salt in a medium-large bowl. Set aside.

2. When the cream mixture is almost at a simmer (ie, almost about to boil but not yet boiling), gradually pour it into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking to combine as you do so. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat, stirring almost constantly, on medium-low until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon (or reaches 175-180 degrees, if you have an instant read thermometer), about five minutes. Do not let the mixture overheat or worse, burn. This is how the chocolate custard looks like when it's cooked:


You should be able to see streaks as you whisk or stir.

3. Leave the custard in the saucepan to cool slightly before pouring into serving ware of your choice, and then place into the fridge for chilling. As soon as the custard firms up, it is ready for eating. If you are in a hurry to serve this, obviously, using smaller cups will hasten the chilling.

4. (Optional) Serve with whipped (flavoured) cream, or a drizzle of light cream, or with chocolate shavings.