18 August, 2011
Lurking amidst my collection of recipes for chocolate puddings and cakes was one for pot au chocolat.
The recipe came from the then cookery editor of Woman’s Weekly, in response to my request for an indulgent but simple dessert for a dinner party.
Ingredients
- 350ml full-fat milk
- 50g caster sugar
- 175g plain chocolate (at least 85% cocoa solids), grated
- 1 tsp natural vanilla essence
- 2 tbsp brandy
- 3 egg yolks, beaten
- 150ml double cream
- Chocolate curls
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170C.
- Place milk and sugar in a saucepan and gradually bring to a slow boil. Add the grated chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes—the mixture should still be warm.
- Stir in the vanilla, brandy and egg yolks and mix well.
- Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a clean, warm measuring jug. Divide the custard equally between six 125ml oven-proof ramekins.
- Place the ramekins in a large roasting tin. Fill the roasting tin with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Place the roasting tin in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. The custard should be just set.
- Remove the ramekins from the tin and stand on a wire rack to cool. Cover the ramekins and chill for at least two hours.
- Just before serving, whip the cream until it forms soft peaks and pipe it over the chocolate custard in the ramekins. Ensure a little of the chocolate custard is still visible around the edges of the cream.
- Decorate the cream with chocolate curls—the method for making them can be found here.
Now that I’m living up in Bigbutt Nowhere, I’m going to have to pay way more attention to your recipes. In Vangroover, I could just find whatever I wanted; here I’m going to have to make it.
Got a recipe for gin, perhaps? I’m getting on the cider recipe ASAP!
Gin involves distilling and the government doesn’t like people doing that in their sheds. Of course, you could buy a bottle of gin and turn it into sloe gin by adding sloes and sugar. Assuming that you have sloes in Canada.