Seek. Savor. Satisfy.

I grew up loving flan. My mum has a PhD in making this caramel-doused dessert. I remember the impatience that accompanied every baking session. Barely had the pan come out of the oven when my brothers and I launched a strike at the still-hot custard, not able to wait a minute longer for it to cool down.

I like custards in general – whether delicate and cozy inside ramekins, luscious underneath a sugary crackle or sitting proudly on a pool of amber syrup.

Now with a child of my own, I shared this predilection with my son by baking some petits pots de creme. They fall right in between a rich creme brulee and a sturdy flan. The difference among the three is essentially the cream-milk-egg ratio. Creme Brulee is made with heavy cream and egg yolks. Pot de Creme has half milk, half cream plus egg yolks. Flan, also known as Creme Caramel, has more milk than cream, whole eggs and egg yolks.

Now asked whether he preferred vanilla or chocolate, my son replied, “Both!” So we worked on two. Why not? I’m not about to go stingy with sharing the love.

xxx

Karima

Petits Pots au Chocolat et a la Vanille

Makes about 8

Ingredients:

250 ml	heavy cream
250 ml	fresh whole milk
1 tbs	vanilla extract
50 grams	bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 large	eggs
1 large	egg yolk
1/3 cup	granulated sugar

Method:

Pour the milk and the cream in a pot. Bring to a boil and then immediately remove from the heat. Stir in vanilla extract and set aside.

Over a pot of simmering water, melt the chocolate. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 320F.

This is the time you can ask your child to join you. In a bowl, have him beat eggs and yolk with the sugar. Slowly add the hot milk (adult-task here!) in a steady stream while beating. This is to ensure that the hot milk doesn’t shock and cook the eggs right away.

Divide the cream equally between two bowls. Add the melted chocolate to one. (This will yield more chocolate pots than vanilla.) Oh, the bowl where you melted the chocolate? I’m sure your child will be happy to clean it up!

Pour the vanilla and chocolate creams into small ramekins or jars and place them in a roasting pan filled with hot water. Make sure the hot water comes up to half of the custard.

Bake in the oven for 30 mins. The creams should appear set but the centers should still jiggle a little.

Take the ramekins or jars out of the water bath and set aside to cool completely. Transfer to the fridge and chill thoroughly.

Tags: chocolate, custard, dairy, dessert, pots de creme, vanilla

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 4th, 2010 at 8:58 am and is filed under Kids in the Kitchen, Recipes. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.