Chocolate Saffron Pots de Creme with Honey Cream and Sea Salt
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Author Notes: Every year, an associate sends the firm boxes and boxes of chocolates from Vosges; I love the fun and surprise of the exotic flavors of the spices in each bite. This recipe is inspired by those special deliveries. The saffron is meant to enhance the chocolate in an evanescent way - disappearing just before your guests can put their finger on the taste, and the honey is a warm alternative to sugar, to lightly sweeten the whipped cream. - Jennifer Ann
Serves 4
- 1 1/2 teaspoon honey
- 1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, divided
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1 pinch saffron threads (about 1/8 scant teaspoon)
- 2 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
- gently warm honey until it becomes loose and pourable, but not hot; whisk into 1/2 cup cream; cover and refrigerate
- preheat oven to 325; mix together remaining cream, milk, and saffron in a small sauce pan, over medium heat, stirring constantly until it simmers; remove from heat
- place chocolate in a medium sized bowl and add the hot cream mixture in a steady stream; whisk until chocolate in melted, shiny, and smooth
- mix together egg and sugar in a large bowl; add hot chocolate cream, and mix well; set aside for about 5 minutes to allow the flavors to meld; strain through a fine mesh sieve into another bowl
- pour batter into four 5-6 ounce pots/ramekins; cover with foil, and place in a baking dish filled with enough boiled water to come to about half way up the pots; bake for 40-50 minutes, until the custard is just barely set in the middle; remove from pan, uncover, and allow to cool at room temperature for about 40 minutes; transfer to the refrigerator until chilled through, about 3 hours.
- just before serving, whip the honey cream until it holds soft peaks; sprinkle each custard with a pinch of crushed sea salt, and a dollop of honey cream.
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Pudding
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Non-Pie Thanksgiving Dessert
Tags: serves a crowd, special occasion
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over 2 years ago Midge
Oh this sounds like a winner to me. Can't wait to try it.
over 2 years ago Jennifer Ann
Thanks Midge!
over 2 years ago Kayb
OK. Question. The recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate. I have some unsweetened Valhrona on hand. How much sugar, and at what point, will I need to add this? Or do I need to put aside the Valhrona and go get myself some bittersweet? I tend to prefer semi-sweet....I suppose that's acceptable as well? (This is going to be one of my Thanksgiving desserts...)
over 2 years ago Jennifer Ann
Hi Kayb, I am flattered that you are going to try this recipe for Thanksgiving! I have always used bittersweet, but did find a wiki suggestion to substitute 1/2 ounce + 1 Tbsp sugar for each ounce of bittersweet - not sure how this works out, but I do think that semi-sweet would work well too. Hope you enjoy it!
over 2 years ago Jennifer Ann
sorry! 1/2 ounce of unsweetened chocolate . . .
over 2 years ago edamame2003
genius!
over 2 years ago Kayb
Swoon.
over 3 years ago mrslarkin
Mrs. Larkin is a trusted source on Baking.
I'm officially chocolate-obsessed this week! (more so than my usual fixation) This looks so delicious.
over 3 years ago Allison Cay Parker
Hey, I'm so glad you commented on the recipe I just posted, because your comment led me to . . . this! Wow. Sounds amazing, and I'm definitely bookmarking it. Yum.
over 3 years ago Maria Teresa Jorge
One of my neighbours here in Tuscany grows saffron and she makes saffron chocolate. It's amazing, first the chocolate melts in your mouth and the saffron only comes through after the chocolate has reached a certain temperature in your mouth. I love her explanations and your recipe is absolutely brilliant. Thanks for sharing it.
over 3 years ago Jennifer Ann
What a lucky neighbor to have! I hope she shares some of that saffron with you.
over 3 years ago Aliwaks
OH MY GOD!!!
over 3 years ago Jennifer Ann
This may be one of my favorite comments yet :)
over 3 years ago Jennifer Ann
Thank you! I hope you have a chance to try it - please note that I forgot to add the step to #4 to strain the hot chocolate cream (until now)
over 3 years ago aargersi
Abbie is a trusted source on General Cooking.
This looks amazing ... I just saved it to my recipes and will try soon. Thanks!!!
over 3 years ago shayma
Jennifer Ann, I would not have revealed this gorgeous saffron secret- it reminds me of a film called No Reservations, based on one of my favourite foreign films (Bella Martha)- where the Chef uses lime leaves in her sauce but her boyfriend only comes to know of this secret ingredient much later...
what a great recipe you have. i love it.
over 3 years ago Jennifer Ann
I love the firm, Bella Martha, and completing forgot about cloaking the magic ingredient - we will have to leave it up to the Food 52 group to keep this secret under their chef hats :)