Bittersweet Chocolate Pots de Crème with Cherries

 

Pots de crème or pot-au-crème translates in French to English as “pot of cream”, as this dessert is served in small-lidded pots. It is basically, chocolate custard that is so smooth and silky and practically melts in your mouth. It is simply divine and wickedly delicious!
Ingredients:
8 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean
3/4 cup sugar
6 ozs. bittersweet chocolate, shaved
1 ¾ cups half and half
2 Tbsp. dark rum
½ cup pitted dark cherries
6 ramekins or wide mouth canning jars
Method:
1. Soak cherries with rum and set aside. Preheat oven to 325°F. In a heavy saucepan, break vanilla bean and add cream and heat over low heat, stirring until a thin film floats across the cream. Remove from heat and discard vanilla bean. Add shaved chocolate and stir until it melted completely.
2. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar till well mixed. Stir in the rum from the cherries and pour egg mixture into the chocolate mixture. Mix well and pour through a sieve and remove foam.
3. Pour slowly into jars or ramekins halfway and press some cherries into mixture, top with more of the chocolate mixture and remove any excess foam.
4. Place ramekins into a large deep baking tray and fill with water up to about 1-inch from the top of the ramekins. Bake in the middle rack for about 45 minutes until it comes out clean when tested with a skewer. Cool completely and serve with shaved chocolate and fresh cherries or cookies.
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