Chocolate Pots de Crème

From The Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library, Card 13 of International Favorites: Rich Chocolate Desserts

I chose this card while sitting in bed, tired and reading by a poor light source. I was choosing based on the picture alone, not the recipe on the back. I thought I was choosing a hot chocolate drink. I thought that would be a delicious and comforting winter beverage. Truth told, I thought it would be an easy undertaking. When I did look at the recipe more carefully, I decided to go along with it, even though it would be none of those things.

 
This is another recipe card with multiple recipes on the back -- pots de crème and chocolate crème. I chose pots de crème for two reasons:

1. I don't want to buy brandy for one recipe and then have a whole bottle sitting around. I don't drink many Brandy Alexanders.

2. I had made pots de crème before with sweet success using another recipe. Like the first successful soufflé, I had not made the pots de crème since.

I dug out the ramekins, gave them a wash, and began. I've picked up bits of culinary knowledge here and there over the years, mostly from watching cooking shows and rarely from personal experience. However, in addition to the ramekins, I also dug out (of my brain, this time, not the pantry) my experience making chocolate candies in ninth grade home-ec class. I remembered something about using a double-boiler to melt the chocolate more evenly and reduce the chance of scorching. As it happened, I had a double-boiler, brand new with tags on, sitting around. This was another good deal my mother found, presumably at Meijer. And lo! It worked! (For anyone keeping track, I did remove the tags and wash the pots, first.) Smooth and creamy melted chocolate with no scorching. I also remembered (this time from cooking shows) to temper the yolks very slowly. The recipe instructs to gradually beat the chocolate into the egg yolks, but I remembered to start with just a couple tablespoons or so, whisk it up, add a couple more, and so forth. And lo! No scrambled eggs! Victory was almost mine. Almost.

I had a vague recollection (as I often do) that when I made them before, I used a bains-marie and put them in the oven. Maybe Betty's method was a faster, easier way. I'm totes fine with that! Next, Betty says to pour into demitasse cups. However, the mixture was very thick and there would be no pouring. Dolloping, sure. Scraping messily while my hand cramped up holding the glass bowl over the ramekin, definitely. But there would be no pouring. In regards to those demitasse cups: if you want the 6-8 servings the recipe says it yields, you must need to use espresso sized cups, not small ramekins. I was only able to fill four ramekins to the half-way mark. After a few hand stretches to loosen the cramp, I moved the little pots of chocolate into the fridge, as per instructions. 

While we wait for them to cool, I'll tell you some other things I remember about home-ec class. I was in ninth grade, and while I had no real plans to pursue the domestic arts as a form of self-expression, I didn't want to take Spanish or shop or art. I might have liked art, but I didn't like that teacher. I opted not to go with Spanish because my dream was to learn French and that wasn't available until sophomore year. They called shop something else, I can't remember what, but it was basically shop, so whatever. I had taken a quarter long version of it in seventh or eighth grade, and still have the wooden key holder I carved. While I did like making it, particularly the sanding element, I didn't see myself liking it so much for an entire year. 

Wooden key holder, shaped like a key, made in "shop" class in 1988. Look how finely sanded!

So home-ec it was! I had a natural talent for making eggs, it turned out. This was a bit weird, as I really, really didn't like to eat eggs back then. In fact, I'm still only so-so about them. I was also good a baking cakes, as I recall. And the candy making! That was pure joy. I liked it so much I asked my mother if we could get candy molds and make some candy at home, too. What I don't remember is why I enjoyed it so much. Was it the novelty of having a chocolate lollipop in the shape of a Christmas tree? Was it because what I made was so beautiful, wrapped in colored cellophane and tied with a red ribbon? Was it the mere act of engaging in something creative that was so satisfying? I don't know. And if even now, some thirty years later, I remember how happy I was making those, why did I never make them again after that?

That loose-ended existential crisis gets us up to speed, so now for the tasting of the pots de crème.  More fudge-like in consistency than custard. A bit bitter. The recipe called for cooking chocolate and I failed to see where it said sweet cooking chocolate. In fact, I failed in that regard so poorly, it is only as I was writing this post and referring to the recipe that I finally saw it.

Lessons for Suz to Learn: don't just look at the picture, read the recipe, read the recipe again very slowly. That accounts for the bitterness. The consistency is another matter.

I looked up the recipe I made before, Claire Robinson's Chocolate Pots de Crème with Cherry Whip. You can find it here:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/chocolate-pots-de-creme-with-cherry-whip-recipe-1948610

Immediately, I see Claire has called for more cream (and it will be pourable!) and there will be a bains-marie and oven time, as I thought. Nothing to do but go ahead and make Claire's recipe, too. Texturally, night and day. Of course, sweeter, too, but that was my own fault, not Betty's. Claire's was more pudding like, custard-y, if you will. Smoother and creamier and all around better.  More work, but most of it was inactive time, so not too problematic. Sorry, Betty, but this round goes to Claire. 

Shown here is the Claire Robinson recipe, though the Betty Crocker recipe actually looked the same from the top. Either way, it isn't much to photograph, though in retrospect, I could have added some little flowers for color or even put it on a more colorful background. Instead, here you find the chocolate pot de crème atop a copy of The Little Prince, French edition. Yes, I made sure the dish was super clean, and no, I don't normally put food on my books. I was quite desperate to get some kind of picture, my previous attempts having been even worse!

Betty Crocker's recipe: 2 Red Spoons

Claire Robinson's recipe: 4 Red Spoons