Pots de creme, pronounced ‘Poe-day-krem’ is my new bestie.  That along with cauliflower rice might very well be my go to low carb duo in 2018.  Pots de creme is this amazingly smooth, velvety rich mousse-like dessert that I always seem to order when we eat out. Now that I know how to make it I will likely not order it in the future and pay 8$ for a thimble-sized serving.

It’s so simple to make and very low in sugar because I use dark chocolate with 6 net carbs. Take caution though with the dark chocolate you use because I’ve had the Montezuma Absolute Black Chocolate  and I swear it was like eating charcoal or dirt. I wound up spitting  it out after chewing for a few minutes and it looked exactly the same as when I first put it in my mouth. Simply Lite is much better both in texture and flavor

What I love most about chocolate pots de creme is how seemingly decadent it is and somehow still manages to be low carb.

*Makes 3 servings

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 T honey
1 t vanilla extract
3.5 – 4 oz dark chocolate
3/4 c coconut milk

Procedure:

Throw everything except the coconut milk in your blender or food processor and blend unttil smooth and chocolate is pulverized. Heat the coconut milk either in the microwave or stove top until almost boiling. With blender on low, slowly drizzle in the coconut milk and blend until mixture is thickened. Pour into ramekins and refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. Top with fresh whipped cream and raspberries.

Tiramisu: An Ode

Spongy decadence
Your caffeinated sweetness
it awakens me

Most of the recipes I write about in this blog are steeped in childhood memories or memories of the first time I had the dish in a restaurant or at a food truck.  That is not the case with tiramisu.  I don’t remember the first time I had it or where, and more importantly, how I felt about it.  I can still remember the first time I took a bite of the ginger spiced cake, for example, at Chow.  Or the time I had tempeh and didn’t realize it was tempeh, which was a good thing, otherwise I would have lost my tempehr (been waiting to use that pun for weeks now.)

Alas, I’m not Lidia Bastianich and tiramisu doesn’t inspire those childhood memories for me.  What it does inspire is poetry, hence  this haiku.

But finally, last night is a tiramisu memory that won’t fade for awhile.   Last night, we attended a crab feed at my son’s school and there was a silent dessert auction with a variety of desserts donated by members of the school community.  Some were homemade, others were store bought and fetched above modest prices from generous contributors.  We love our school and when close friends on the crab feed committee asked for a dessert donation, tiramisu instantly leapt to mind.

I was a little (a lot) anxious about how it would taste, too runny, heavy on the rum, etc, etc.  Then came the moment of reckoning and I worried that no one would bid on it–like a girl going to her first dance and then doesn’t get asked by anyone.  I put a lot of pressure on that tiramisu.  Because I’m a dork, I stalked that auction table repeatedly and eventually sent my homie Marie to check on its current going price.

The tiramisu got asked to dance.  At a final selling price of $130, the tiramisu had, in fact, been elected prom queen.

Tiramisu Recipe (adapted from: The Best Tiramisu You Will Ever Make: Ask Chef Dennis)

Ingredients