You have to really love chocolate (I do!) to appreciate this dessert. It is amazing but super rich, and a lot goes a long way so you can use small ramekins, only filled halfway, to get a wonderful dessert for guests or a special treat during a snow day for the kids.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp Kahlua or cooked espresso
8 ounces semisweet chocolate (or 8 ounces unsweetened chocolate and an extra half cup sugar)
Tip: Always go for high end chocolate, especially when it is the star of the show like with this recipe.
6 large egg yolks
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Chop the chocolate into small chunks. Pour the cream and milk into a medium soup pot and add the sugar, vanilla and Kahlua/espresso. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently until boiling. Once you see the bubbles, add in the chocolate and whisk until melted. Pull the pot off of the heat.
Lightly beat the egg yolks in a bowl. Then pour into the chocolate mixture, really slowly while you are whisking constantly. You don’t want scrambled eggs.
Pour the mixture into ramekins, then place them into lasagna dishes or similar – anything with sides that will allow making a bain-marie.
Tip: Bain-marie is when you cook something in the oven gently, by filling a casserole dish with cold water, halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Once all of the filled ramekins are in the dish and the cold water is halfway up the sides of the dishes, cover with aluminum foil and carefully slide into the oven. You want to avoid splashing the water into the chocolate custards while putting the dishes into the oven, and later when removing the dishes from the oven.
Bake on the center rack for 1 hour 15 minutes. You can tell they are ready, once the the center is just a bit jiggly. Cool to room temperature then refrigerate and serve cold.
Serve with homemade whipped cream and something to offset the richness like fresh raspberries, strawberries or some crushed cashews would be great accompaniments!