TWD-Caramel Pots de Creme

What doesn't sound good about a dessert with the words "caramel" and "creme" in it? I would have been crazy to pass on this one! Funny thing is, I totally forgot that I needed to make it so we had our minimum of 2 posts this month. Things have been busy with the end of school and what not so this afternoon I remembered and got right to it. Thankfully, I had all of the ingredients in the house and didn't have to run to the store. We had whole milk thanks to having a 15-month-old in the house. We had heavy cream thanks to a yummy fruit crisp we had after dinner on Sunday. And, of course, we had plenty of sugar, eggs and vanilla. We keep the pantry well-stocked around here because I can't seem to go more than a few days without getting the baking bug and wanting to make something. It's a good thing we have neighbors who love it when we share our goodies!


I decided to half the recipe so there was enough for sampling but not too much, resulting in overindulgence! The recipe was simple and came together quickly. The most time-consuming part was caramelizing the sugar. I followed Dorie's instructions to use plastic wrap over the top while the custards baked, unfortunately it didn't work very well for me. Maybe my plastic wrap was too cheap? When I removed the pan from the oven, the plastic wrap had split down the middle right between the two holes I had put in it. Thank goodness it didn't melt and ruin the dessert! I pulled off the plastic as soon as it came out.


The pots de crème came out of the oven a bit darker than I thought they were going to be. I wonder if it had something to do with the plastic wrap not really doing it's job? It didn't seem to affect the flavor in a negative way. The custard was creamy and had the a subtle hint of the caramelized sugar. It was delicious!


This is a recipe I would definitely make again when company came for dinner. It was simple, quick and amazingly good. If you are interested in the recipe, which I'm sure you are, head on over to Peggy's blog.


Until our next post! Happy Baking!

TWD: Floating Islands

When I originally read the description of the recipe I thought to myself, "Wow, this is going to be just fabulous!" Creme anglaise, meringue and caramel...how could you go wrong with those components? Well, I think this is the first of the TWD recipes that didn't "wow" me. In fact, I decided not to serve it to our friends who were coming for dessert. I used the creme anglaise over a cinnamon crumb cake that was from a box. Gasp! I know! But I liked it better than the Floating Islands. 

The creme anglaise turned out pretty good. I watched it on the thermometer and as it got into the 160's I thought it looked perfect. I should have followed my instinct and removed it from the heat right then because just a minute later it started to curdle a bit. After going through the strainer it was better but not amazingly good. When you over cook creme anglaise it begins to taste eggy instead of creamy and the texture is ruined and is not satiny smooth as it should be. But, I didn't want to start over again so I decided it would have to do. 

The meringue seemed simple enough. I whipped the egg whites and added the sugar and got it to the perfect stage. The first two came out looking like I thought they should but it kind of went downhill from there. I might have had the heat too high on the milk because some of them looked like plain cooked egg whites, and tasted that way too so they went right into the trash can. I'm not sure how some people said they cooked theirs for 3 minutes per side. Maybe I was doing something wrong. 

Oh bother, this isn't looking good at all! The caramel didn't want to cooperate either and struggled to reach a golden brown color so it went on lighter than it should have been. All-in-all this was kind of a disappointing kitchen day. Nevertheless, I still took a few pictures (but didn't feel like there were any great ones). I don't think this will be one I will make again. Fun for the challenge but it didn't amaze me by any means. I enjoyed the creamy texture of the creme anglaise against the fluffiness of the meringue and the crunchy caramel but there was just something missing for me. 

If you want to be brave and attempt this dessert yourself, head on over to Whisk: a food blog where Shari has it posted.

Until next week...Happy Baking!