Salted Caramel Pots de Creme

I had a lovely little Valentine's Day meal with a few lady friends this past weekend and was reminded of how lucky I am to have great lady friends. What does one pair with great lady friends? Dessert, of course.  That's after a lot of good wine and two or three other courses. Consider these pots de creme your new creme caramels, ladies. I can't chat them up enough. They have a hint of milk chocolate that enhances the richness of the caramel and the addition of good sea salt adds an interesting dimension to an old favorite.

I made these a night in advance to ensure I got results I could use. My prep time was about 40 minutes, but I suspect I'd be able to trim that down a bit now that I've made it once. I like the idea that I can make it in advance, since that gives me time to do other food prep on the day of. For me and likely many others, forty minutes of preparation for a dessert seems like an investment, but these are so, so worth it. Dig in!


From: http://www.foodnetwork.com

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 t sea salt 
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup of water
• 30 g milk chocolate
• 6 egg yolks

Method

Preheat the oven to 325 F. In a small saucepan combine the cream, milk, vanilla and salt and heat until the mixture begins to bubble. Set aside and cover to keep warm.

To make the caramel, combine the sugar and water in another saucepan and stir under medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Let the sugar water simmer for about 12 minutes until it turns a light amber color. Add the caramel to the cream mixture, stirring until combined. Finally, add the chocolate and stir until melted into the sauce.

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl and then add half of the cream mixture, stirring until blended. Follow with the remaining cream mixture and then transfer the ingredients into a pitcher.

Do those servings look evenly divided to you?

Divide the mix evenly among six ramekins and place the ramekins in a baking dish filled with water that reaches halfway up each of the ramekins.  Bake, covered with tin foil for 45-50 mins, or until the mixture settles. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

I opted to broil the pots au creme on high heat with a little dusting of sugar before the items were served, to brown the surface a little; about 5 minutes. Once cooled, sprinkle the pots with a little sea salt.