Sunday 12 June 2011

Three Pôts de Crème



I finally finished my exams :)

Life is pretty good right now.

These weren't my final ones (I'm graduating next year... hopefully I'll be back for next year!), but everyone still did the champagne (or, ahem, cava) spraying when you come out of the final exam, which is what we did for one of my friends (you can find her at Citying Pretty). So taking a deviation from the usual food photos the next one I had to put on here because I think it's pretty fun:



Hehehe :)

After months of having nightmares about failing and dreaming about matrices in maths (unfortunately watching The Matrix doesn't count as revision), I'm finally free! Freeeeee!!!! I'm going to catch up with all of your blogs and drool over the photos, like, now :D 

And for these blessed two weeks before I start my banking internship in London for the summer, my days will hopefully consist of...

Eating chocolate,








Making things with chocolate,


Taking photos of things with chocolate,
And thinking about chocolate. Namely Green & Black's. Sometimes Sainsbury's basics.

Oh yeah, and lots of sleeping in between that. Sleep - we meet again! How I have missed you.

(But if you still have exams, good luck! Not long to go now!)

Also, these pots were a little gem I found in a charity shop at home. Just £4! And I got five of the cutest cups in the world, I mean, it's like getting a pair of Louboutins on sale.

But better, because the former is actually possible.

**********

So watch this space, I've got lots of ideas for new posts (and cake! Lots of cake!), some Bento stuff, hopefully a cookery video coming soon, and.... just... cake. Summed up by something a friend said:

"cake is yum.
me is nom.
you is awesum. "

Damn right! :D


Three Pôts de Crème
from the Green & Black's cookbook

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Chilling time: 2-3 hours

Use:   egg cups or other small unusual containers – try liqueur glasses (or go hunting in charity shops for cute cups!)

Serves: 6

1 ¾ cups half and half
1 vanilla bean, split open with seeds scraped out
1 ounce dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa content, broken into pieces
1 ounce Maya Gold Chocolate, or other good-quality, dark, orange-flavored chocolate, broken into pieces
2 ounces white chocolate, broken into pieces
6 large egg yolks
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt


Gently heat the half and half with the vanilla bean and seeds until bubbles begin to form at the edge, but make sure the cream does not boil. This happens really quickly so watch it carefully. Remove from the heat, cover and set aside to infuse.

Melt the chocolate separately in heatproof bowls set over saucepans of simmering water. (Keep the saucepans of water as you will need them later on.) Remove the bowls from the heat and let the chocolates cool, then beat two of the egg yolks into each of the melted chocolates until the mixtures are smooth. Combine the sugar and salt, and stir one-third of the mixture into each chocolate mixture until completely dissolved.

Remove the vanilla bean from the cream and gently stir one-third of the cream into each chocolate mixture until well blended. Replace the bowls over the saucepans of simmering water.

Cook until each mixture coats the back of a spoon, stirring all the time. I did short 30 second bursts in the microwave too, which worked fine if you don’t have that many saucepans.

Pour each chocolate mixture into your chosen containers and chill for about 2 to 3 hours or until mixture has set.

37 comments:

  1. wow these look awesome and what a cute tea cup, congrats on getting though your exams hugs

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  2. Congrats on finishing your exams, is that white chocolate bar there have vanilla bean speckles?

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  3. Well done on finishing! Enjoy all the celebrations... and cake!!

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  4. Thank you! @elle marie Yep, that white chocolate has vanilla specks in it :) It's definately the best!

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  5. yay for the end of exams! I think you have planned your next 2 weeks perfectly - enjoy!
    Love the cups..and their contents!

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  6. How did the exams? No point wasting good champagne, cava does the job just as well:)

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  7. when you wrote banking internship, i read baking internship and did a double take.

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  8. Congratulations on finishing your exams! I adore these cups and especially whats in them@

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  9. Great video, how fun when exams are over! Great looking cups and even better looking pots de creme! So yummy!

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  10. Yeah... freedom! That is a nice video, what better way to celebrate freedom! Is that you in black and red?
    Your cup and saucer set looks pretty and the cups have legs too! How charming! The three pots de creme looks so inviting! Looking forward to more of your yummy posts. Have a lovely week!

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  11. Congrats on finishing those exams. It's such a good feeling - relief and excitment mixed into one. Those little cream pots look exquisite - both the contents in the pots and the pots themselves. A great after-exam reward ;)

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  12. Congratulations! Love your pot de crême; Prefection. Thank you for your visit.
    Rita

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  13. well done for getting through the exams!... phew!... and what a superb way to celebrate but with three kinds of chocolate eh? x

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  14. Wooo bet youre pleased youre finished your exams..mine are nearly done..cant wait!! And then I will also be thinking about chocolate a lot more..well mroe than i do anyway hehe! The little cups youve made look amazingly good and hope you have fun on your baking internship!

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  15. congrats!!
    what a yummy way to celebrate! :)

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  16. Congrats on finishing your finals! And, that white chocolate bar looks so good right now.

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  17. Freedom...yeaaay! Video...LOL! Ba(n)king internship...yeaaay! Teacups...yeaaay! Chocolate Pôts de Crème...triple yeaaay!!! Louboutins...oh yeah, baby! Did I miss anything? Oh, Maya Gold is the best. And not just because my name's on it, I really do like it a lot :-).

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  18. Congrats on finishing your exams! Three kinds of chocolate is the best way to celebrate :)

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  19. Congrats! Those cups are so pretty filled with irresistible chocolate, please reserve one for me...

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  20. Thank you for the comments, 2 kinds of chocolate is really the way to go to celebrate! @kitchen flavours yep that's me :)

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  21. Love the recipe and pics and those chocolate pics. Glad that exams are over and life is relaxed a bit :)

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  22. Congrats on finishing your exams! Also, I love the tea cups!

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  23. What a wonderful recipe! These pots de creme look so delicious and simple. Thanks for sharing this, Xinmei!

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  24. Xinmei, congrats on finishing the exam! And I LOVE the video clip! Haha I wish someone did it for me when I was in school (or vice versa). Looking delicious!!

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  25. well done and these are great!

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  26. Congratulations Xinmei...and the pots de creme look delicious, so cute the teacups...have a wonderful week :-)

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  27. Congrats on finishing the exams! These look so pretty!

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  28. Yummy. A delicious little dish to welcome the summer and wave goodbye to revision and exams! Good luck with your results!

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  29. Congratulations and those cute little cups of goodness look like a perfect way of celebrating.

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  30. These are gorgeous! I LOVE your photos, they're flawless. Wow, great job I can't wait to try these. Thanks so much for sharing, I always look forward to your posts =]

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  31. I'm so happy for you! Enjoy all that chocolate.

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  32. Time for celebration then....Enjoy!! Beautiful cups and the contents look amazing too...How about the Cambridge foodies meeting up first week of July for a coffee? Spread the word,so a proper Cambridge Food Network gets created...

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  33. That video is fun, although why do I always get upset when so much bubbly booze ends up on the floor? Wonderful news that the exams are over and even better that you can finally relax.
    Fantastic chocolate pots de creme and imagine that gorgeous set for 4 pounds? You're on a great roll here... looking forward to seeing your posts and good luck with the banking internship!

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  34. this deliciousness looks like what they eat with churros in Spain! :D

    papaya and green juice = great for detox! and avocados are great for beauty (skin and hair). ahh i know what u mean. i hate it when my skin isn't looking great! now that your stress has calmed down, your skin will get better!

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  35. These look so tasty and cute!

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  36. those are the cutest cups ever!

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