Chocolate Custard

I suppose I might as well change the name of this blog to "Custardnumbers." What can I say? Dairy, eggs, and flavoring. So simple. So much variety. So good.

1 c. heavy cream
0.5 c. milk
2 eggs + 1 yolk
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. cocoa powder
pinch salt
1/2 t. vanilla

Heat oven to 325ºF

I warmed the milk and cream together in a pan to a sub-boiling level, then added the sugar and cocoa. I whisked the mixture until the cocoa and sugar had completely integrated. Turning off the heat, I added the vanilla and salt to the mix.

In a large glass bowl, I whisked the eggs lightly. Didn't want to incorporate too much air because that would tend to make unsightly bubbles on the surface of the custard. Adding the still warmish chocolate cream little by little to the eggs and mixing well completes the process.

I buttered six ramekins and placed them in a big Pyrex baking dish. Boiled water in my teakettle in preparation for the baking process. The custard mix was enough to fill each ramekin up to 5/8" or so. I filled the baking dish up about 1/2" with boiling water and put it in the oven for an hour. After the hour, I let the ramekins rack-cool, then popped them in the fridge with saran wrap covering to limit moisture loss and skin formation.

In the end, the custards we're a little overthick and had a slightly desiccated layer on the surface. Cooked too long I expect. Next time I'll trust my bump testing and not blindly cook for any given time. Also, I think the dairy:egg ratio could be increased slightly. Finally, it would be better, I think, to have the custards be a bit deeper. Maybe not. I'll increase the milk and that will address the thickness and also add volume. Also may consider straining the milk to remove stray chunks of cocoa and crystalized sugar. The buttering did not appear to be neccesary.

Damn they were good though, as imperfect as they were.