I know I’m a day late in posting a luxurious Valentine’s Day dessert, but who says it has to be a holiday to enjoy this silky cup of heaven?
When I saw the Salted Caramel Pot De Creme tutorial on Gilt Taste, I knew I had to make it. It read, “how to bake custard like a pro, and how to get a caramel flavor without ever burning sugar” which sounded perfect to me. (Full disclosure: I’ve never baked custard and I’m always burning sugar.)
Plus, I recently had a luscious milk chocolate pot de creme at Sandrine’s Bistro and while I’m still not sure on how to properly pronounce it, I wanted to try my hand at making this dessert myself.
I also have some wonderfully fresh heirloom eggs from Pete and Gerry’s, a family farm in New Hampshire. I received a six-pack (can I refer to eggs like that or is that just for beer?) of light pastel blue eggs from a very fun event held at Stone Hearth Pizza in Allston a couple of weeks back, and I was saving the eggs for a special recipe. So it was decided – curb a craving, use some special eggs, make a sexy dessert.
Ohhh and I’m telling you, these little pot de cremes, they’re sexy and they know it. Each spoonful was smooth and silky, with a deep caramel flavor from the browned butter and brown sugar, and a subtle hit of salt.
The Gilt Taste column was extremely helpful. I followed the instructions for the Brown Butter Salted Pot De Creme but went rogue on two things: I used a combination of heavy and light cream (only because I ran out of heavy cream) and I didn’t strain it. Afterwards, I did feel like a pro. And I didn’t burn the sugar!
Coming out of the oven and still in the water bath, I could see that my custards set beautifully. Sure, the tops looked a teeny little bit more grainy than a restaurant quality dessert, but I sprinkled sea salt over it anyway so that was offset. And when I took off the foil cover, I managed to knick that one on the right (kinda like the heart I squished). But imperfections endear me, so I was happy.
Using really good quality eggs really helped in making these pot de cremes even silkier. The egg yolks were thick and plush, and the resulting custard tasted very luxurious and indulgent.
You can find the recipe at Gilt Taste. If you’d like to try another salty-sweet treat, try my Salted Dulce De Leche Macaroons! Or maybe Dark Chocolate Cookies with Espresso Salt? But if you want an indulgent, sexy dessert to impress a significant other (or uh, your parents via FaceTime) or a few of your lucky friends, or even if you just want to treat yourself like a princess, then go get your water bath ready and prepare to swoon.
What was the last recipe you made from a website or a blog that wasn’t yours? I love how I now turn to Gilt not just for my fashion needs, but also for lovely food stories and delicious sales. (And if you need an invite to the shopping site, you can use this invite link!)
Hi! I’m Bianca Garcia. I love food, running, yoga, sangria, and my job. I'm an advertising professional, social media enthusiast, blogger, freelance writer, and obsessive list-maker. I think about dessert constantly. 
via rss
