Let me warn you, this dessert is eye-rolling good. Chocolate pot de crème is a fairly simple loose chocolate custard. It's the kind of dessert I just love, where excellent chocolate takes center stage. I hope no one takes offense but I think of it as the somewhat more mature, French cousin of the American chocolate pudding or Italian panna cotta.
This chocolate pot de crème is made with dark chocolate, half-and-half, and egg yolks. All these things combine to make for a rich and silky chocolate dessert that's reminiscent in taste of molten chocolate cake. A high quality chocolate is recommended for this recipe and I used a chocolate with 61% cacao from Guittard. I love Guittard - their chocolates are amazingly smooth.
The custard is baked in a water bath and served slightly warm or at room temperature. I like it best while it's still just a teeny bit warm. The texture is creamy and the taste is pure chocolate. You could serve it with a dollop of lightly sweetened whip cream and some chocolate shavings on top or you can keep it simple like I have and just dig in with a spoon. The eye-rolling begins with the first bite. It also smells divine.
This is February and it's all about chocolate (for me, anyway). If you're looking for something a bit richer than the everyday chocolate pudding for your Valentine's Day dessert, let me suggest this. It has a very romantic feel and taste to it. To really drive the Valentine's Day theme home, consider placing a couple of raspberries on top of each pot de crème.
