Lavender-White Chocolate Pots de Creme: Musings and Recipe

 

A note on serving sizes: I used 1-cup ramekins and made 6 servings.  You can use smaller ramekins and make more portions, just keep in mind that the baking time might be less.

 

Makes 6 to 8 servings

 

2 cups heavy cream, divided

1 cup milk

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon edible lavender (not ground), more or less to taste

1 fat strip orange or lime zest, optional

4 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped

4 large egg yolks

1 large egg

Pinch of fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

Put 1 1/2 cups of the heavy cream, the milk, sugar, lavender and the zest, if you’re using it, in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Stay close – you know milk’s nasty habit of boiling over.  Turn off the heat, cover the pan and allow the mixture to steep for about 20 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.  Place 6 to 8 heatproof ramekins (see my note above) in a roasting pan and bring a kettle of water to a boil; keep aside.

 

Put the chopped white chocolate in a small heatproof bowl.  Bring the remaining 1/2 cup heavy cream to a boil (you can do this in a microwave), pour the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds.  Using a small spatula or whisk and starting in the center of the bowl, stir the cream and chocolate together in increasingly widening circles until you have a smooth ganache. 

 

Bring the lavender cream back to a boil and then immediately turn off the heat.

 

Working in a large (I use a 2-quart) heatproof measuring cup with a spout, in a pitcher or in a bowl, whisk the yolks and egg together with the salt until smooth.  Very, very slowly – as in dribble-by-dribble – strain a bit of the hot cream over the eggs and then whisk like mad.  (If you don’t mind dirtying another pitcher, you can strain the cream and pour it from the pitcher over the eggs.)  Add about one-quarter of the cream in this drizzle-and-whisk fashion – insurance against cooking the eggs.  Whisk some of the hot cream into the white chocolate ganache and add this to the eggs.  Then, in a steadier stream, gently whisk in the remaining cream.  Discard the lavender and zest.  Stir in the vanilla extract.

 

Rap the pitcher against the counter to debubble the mixture.  If you’ve got lots of bubbles, you might want to skim them – they create holes in the custard; not fatal, but not uber-attractive.  Pour an equal amount of the mixture into each ramekin and then pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come about half way up the sides of the ramekins.  Carefully, slide the roaster into the oven and cover the set-up with a baking sheet.  

 

Bake the ramekins for 40 to 60 minutes (the time will depend on the size of your ramekins) or until they are set.  When you tap the sides of the ramekins, the custard should be completely set with maybe just a tiny, jiggly circle in the center.  Remove the baking sheet and transfer the roaster to a cooling rack.  Leave the set-up intact for 10 minutes and then, carefully lift the ramekins out of the water and onto a rack to cool to room temperature.  Cover and refrigerate the ramekins for at least 2 hours or for up to 1 day before serving.