Dark Chocolate Pot de crème

As my second attempt at baking at home. I actually did not bake at all. I made a dark chocolate pot de crème, which is actually a simple and intensely chocolate tasting custard made in a pot on the stove and poured into little pots or small ramekins. They are very rich and each bite should be blissfully savored. The recipe actually called for bittersweet chocolate, but as Trader Joe's did not sell their 18 oz bittersweet chocolate bars without almonds, I got the big dark chocolate one instead. As dark chocolate is delicious, but not as sweet as bittersweet I actually added more sugar to my heated milk and cream mixture simmering on the stove. Really, the only slightly complicated part of the process was slowly whisking part of the heated cream mixture to the egg yolks to bring up the temperature of the yolks without cooking them. I used the easy recipe for cherry whipped cream from Claire Robinson's show Five Ingredient Fix. Simply whip some cream and carefully fold in cherry preserves. I got my cherry preserves from Trader Joe's and think they are excellent. I find people love fresh whipped cream and the cherry preserves add a nice pop of color. Overall it was easy, quick and extremely satisfying. I gave a couple to my friends Paul and Lauralyn for Paul's birthday and they seemed to enjoy them very much. Even the Mister enjoyed them and considered them equivalent to those found at Taste, a favorite restaurant in Indianapolis.

Helpful tips: Use very small containers for these. A little goes a long way. Think the size of a shot glass or perhaps using small espresso cups.