Vanilla Pots de Creme

I love any dessert with creme brulee or custard texture. Especially those desserts with the most decadent creamy vanilla flavour. So you can imagine my excitement for Tyler Florence's Vanilla Pots de Creme recipe in his awesome cookbook Tyler's Ultimate. I made the dessert in the afternoon since I planned to serve dinner to my parents that night who were visiting from out of town. You can imagine my disappointment though when I pulled them out of the fridge - having followed the instructions to the letter - and they were still not properly set. We ate them any way and the flavour was delicious, however the texture definitely left something to be desired.

Now you're thinking to yourself - ok if these turned out so badly, why are you even posting this recipe? There were leftovers and they sat in the fridge for a day or so before I got a craving for something sweet, so I thought I would give them another taste. Worst case scenario - I throw out the leftovers. Well, would you believe it? I pulled them out of the fridge and they were set perfectly with an absolutely amazing texture. So moral of the story - don't just chill them for the minimum time - chill them overnight for ideal texture. Seriously! Learn from my mistakes!

Vanilla Pots de Creme

Recipe from Tyler's Ultimate, pg 238

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• amaretti cookies, for serving

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325F and bring a saucepan of water to a boil for a water bath.
2. Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan and place over medium low heat. Bring just to a simmer, then remove from the heat.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the sugar starts to dissolve and the yolks turn light yellow, about 3 minutes. Gradually whisk in thehot cream mixture, a thin stream at first so as not to cook the yolks, and then more quickly. Stir in the vanilla.
4. Pour the custard mixture into six 8-oz ramekins or cappuccino cups and cover each with a square of foil to keep a crust from forming. Place ramekins in a large, shallow baking pan and set the pan on the oven rack. Pour 1/2 inch of boiling water into the baking pan for the water bath. Carefully slide the rack into place and bake for about 45-55 minutes, until the custard is set but the center still jiggles slightly. Remove the pan from the oven and let ramekins cool in water for 10 minutes. Then pop them in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours (I recommend overnight as mentioned in my post above). Serve with cookies.

These are delicious and moderately easy to make. They are fun for a dinner party because they are preportioned into individual servings and are easy to dress up to serve to your guests. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Baking my Friends!