Saturday, January 28, 2012

Pots Au Chocolat


Welcome to Red Couch Recipes!

So glad you stopped by!  I hope you are now ready for a dessert recipe.  It took me about a month after Christmas to get in the dessert making mood again.  These Pots Au Chocolat are sure to please as they are all about chocolate gooiness, all about speed, and all about sure success.

Tati, my 15-year old, made these for dessert the other day.

The pots waiting to be baked.


 
I first tasted Pots Au Chocolat at a church women's get together.  One of the ladies had just had a French chef come to her home and teach her how to make some French recipes, including how to make Pots Au Chocolat. That night she demonstrated how to make Pots Au Chocolat.   This was many years ago and I was intimidated by the "Frenchiness" of this recipe.  A while later I went to a Chinese dinner at my sister Jacqueline's home and we overindulged by eating both her Hot Lave Cakes AND her Mango ice cream balls, beautifully plated.  I use my sister Jacqueline's recipe today-- she calls them Hot Lava Cakes and I call them Pots Au Chocolat.   Let me make this clear, this recipe is basically a no-fail recipe -- once you and your oven have an understanding.  The first time you make these, be careful about the cooking time.  You are looking for a product that is runny in the middle. If you bake it too  little, you will get an extra runny middle.  If you bake it too long, you will not get a runny middle.

My daughter chose to make these with milk chocolate chips; we both agreed that from now on we would always used semi-sweet chips.


This is how they should look when they come out of the oven.  If you use semi-sweet chips, your pots will be darker.


Recipe for Pots Au Chocolat

1 cup semi-sweet chocolat chips
10 tablespoons butter
3 large eggs
3 yolks from large eggs
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup flour


Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Melt the chocolate chips and the butter in the microwave for about one minute.  In another bowl, mix the eggs and egg yolks, then add to chocolate mixture.  Mix in powdered sugar.  Then add flour.  Butter 6 (6-ounce) ramekins.  Fill each wth about 1/2 cup batter.  Place ramekins on a cookie sheet.  Bake in a 450 degree oven for about 12-1/2 minutes.  At this point, you can either serve the dessert in the ramekins (as we did) , or you can invert the ramekins and serve the dessert on a plate. Test, to make sure the Pots Au Chocolat are done by, running a knife around the edge of the ramekin and inverting the cake on a plate.  The center should be runny, but the cake should hold up on the plate.  If done, take all cakes out of the oven.  Serve warm  with raspberry sauce and whipped cream or ice cream.

Notes:  Instead of making a raspberry sauce, I usually just warm up a little bit of raspberry jam in the microwave and spoon a little bit on top of the ramekin. The ramekins I use all the time are the white ones picttured in this post.  They were from Pier 1 several years ago and were about one dollar a piece.  If you don't have ramekins, why don't you invest in some?

We also served the Pots Au Chocolat with Ice Cream and Hershey's Chocolate Syrup



I hope you try these because they are super easy to make, make up quickly, and they are fun to serve!

Thanks for dropping by Red Couch Recipes and I hope you make these Pots Au Chocolat and add a bit of "Frenchiness to your life this year.

18 comments:

Bonnie said...

Yum, Joni. These look wonderful and what a nice dessert for a formal dinner.

Renée said...

These are so fun for Valentine's Joni and loved by all. Great job Tati and thanks to both of you!

Sandy said...

I wish I had one of those sitting in my lap right now, instead (okay, as well as) of my computer. They look so darn yummy.... I WILL be making them real soon. My mouth is watering! I so enjoy looking at your blog... have a wonderful weekend. xoso Sandy

Barbara F. said...

Wow, they look delicious and I would love to be dipping a spoon into one of those little pots right about now. xo

Socially Savvy said...

Yes! I will be making Pots Au Chocolat very soon. Thank you for sharing - Joy

Marigene said...

Your daughter did a fabulous job...I have never made this with chocolate chips, but I am going to try your recipe very soon, Joni!

Jacqueline said...

My mouth is just watering at these. We haven't made them in such a long time! What a perfect Valentine's dessert they would be! She can come and make them for me some time!

Gloria said...

Wow, does this look delicious or what??!! Good for you and your daughter! I should try this soon, no matter HOW many different names you gave it in this post! LOL! Seriously, you did a fantastic job, as you and your daughter are making my mouth water... You should be on Food Network or in Bon Appetit Magazine, or something!
Best,
Gloria

Lynn said...

Looks like a fun dessert Joni! Love the pic with the raspberry jam-enjoy:@)

Unknown said...

Joni -- these look WONDERFUL and with raspberry jam, how perfect for Valentines!

Blessings!
Gail

Anonymous said...

I love these and have made them before, but I love our addition of the jam and even more so the chocolate and ice cream! anne

SavoringTime in the Kitchen said...

They do look wonderful! I love the shot of the chocolate sauced oozing out of the dish :)

Bonnie said...

Beautiful post. Looks so delicious. I am on a diet so I will have to save this one for later. Great photos.

Julie Harward said...

Looks like the perfect dessert to me...my cheeks are doing a happy dance just looking at it! :D

Debbie said...

So I guess you should make this recipe twice (or plan on a trial run) before being certain of baking time. I could do that. These look yummy.

Sue said...

I made chocolate lava cakes once with a mix from William-Sonoma. I've eaten them often at a local restaurant. I think these sound very similiar only you don't have to unmold them and hope they stay together. There really isn't anything better than warm, gooey chocolate goodness!

Sherylyn said...

I'm so excited to make these! Thanks for sharing. Your blog is awesome btw. :)

http://thehomemakingfashionista.blogspot.com/

Talley said...

What a delicious treat to have!! I am sure that in no time I will make this delightful recipe. I know it will be just scrumptious because I have been scrutinizing your blog every once and a while and I find that everything is delicious!
Your daughter,
Talley

Engageya