White Chocolate Lemon Pots de Crème

Last year I featured a Chocolate Balsamic Pots de Crème recipe on the blog – easily one of the most decadent desserts I’ve published to date. Today’s White Chocolate Lemon Pot de Crème recipe is the perfect counterpoint to the last one. Both versions use acid – one in the form of balsamic vinegar and other with lemon – to cut the decadence and create balance.

I love pots de crème because they come together effortlessly and don’t require any expert pastry chef skills but your guests will probably think otherwise.

Assuming this isn’t your first time on this blog, you’ll know that I spend a lot of time talking about my dating life, from my first Tinder date, to the problem with Bumble and the pitfalls of online dating as a thirty-something woman.

I got to thinking over the weekend that maybe I was coming across as a bit jaded. So, for a change of pace, and in the interest of practicing gratitude, I’m highlighting the BENEFITS of being single.

Like a true artist, I often draw inspiration for my writing from my life. I was having drinks with my friends Rob and Alyssa the other day and they told me a story that really made me appreciate sleeping alone.

They recently moved into a new home and upgraded to a king-sized bed. In spite of the additional sleeping square footage, Alyssa felt Rob rustling beside her in the middle of the night and opened her eyes just in time to watch Rob’s outstretched fingers descend into her naked pupil. It’s worth noting, Rob wasn’t trying to torture his girlfriend, he was just stretching in his sleep and somehow managed to locate Alyssa’s eyeball, from across the bed, with the precision accuracy of a darts champion at the local legion.

Their little midnight mishap got me to thinking about other advantages of the spinster life:

• never having to compromise – whether it’s which restaurant to go to or what show to watch on Netflix, you never have to negotiate if you’re doing it alone.
• never having to smell someone else’s farts – it’s always more offensive when someone else cuts the cheese.
• not having in-laws – self-explanatory.
• no one will steal the food off your plate – in spite of being an only child, I don’t mind sharing food, but for the love of God, let me have the FIRST bite from the dish I ordered. Now, I don’t have to share.
• no backseat drivers – yes, I know where I’m going, thank you very much.

• no forced social interactions with their friends from high school – have you ever noticed how men tend to hang on to their friends? They seem to have a strict “no new friends” policy and only fraternize with the same pack of dudes they’ve been rolling with since grade school – most of whom they have absolutely nothing in common with anymore. and therefore, you probably won’t either. Being single = none of that.
• no one to tell you you’re loading the dishwasher wrong – glassware on the bottom rack, total anarchy, no one to say otherwise.
• no one else to please – your pleasure is paramount. Being single means you can do what feels good, whenever it feels good, without the hassle of pleasing other stakeholders.
• not having to share closet space – I don’t have any to spare.
• and last but certainly not least, you get to find the love of your life on a reality TV show – few things are more effective at turning you into an overnight celebrity, or at the very least, a viral meme, than a stint on Love is Blind or The Bachelor. Think of the personal brand-building potential.

I know there are plenty of other upsides I’ve missed – name a few in the comments below! Also, I’ll be eating BOTH of these pots de crème all by myself, because I can.

White Chocolate Lemon Pots de Crème

5 from 7 votes

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White Chocolate Lemon Pots de Crème

Prep Time

6 mins

Cook Time

40 mins

Total Time

4 hrs

 

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Keyword: White Chocolate Lemon Pot de Crème

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2 100g bars white chocolate chopped into 1/4-inch pieces (recommended: Lindt)
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup whole milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 ½ tsp lemon zest
• Pinch fine sea salt
• ½ cup fresh raspberries

Instructions

1. Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Put the white chocolate in a medium bowl. Set aside. In a small saucepan, over low heat, add the cream and milk and heat until hot but not boiling. Pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and stir until smooth. In another medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, and salt together until smooth. Slowly whisk the cream mixture into the egg mixture until smooth.

3. Ladle the custard into 4 (4-ounce) ramekins or custard cups. Arrange the ramekins in an 8 by 8-inch square baking dish. Pour enough hot water in the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the custard is almost set and still slightly soft in the center (custard will set as it cools).

4. Let the ramekins cool for 30 minutes in the baking dish. Remove the ramekins from the water and refrigerate for 3 hours or up to 1 day.

5. Garnish with fresh raspberries and serve.

Recipe Notes

Recipe slightly adapted from: De Laurentiis, Giada. “Lemon and White Chocolate Pots de Crème.” Food Network.