Chocolate Pots de Creme

I didn't plan it this way, but it's shaping up to be pudding week at Lethally Delicious. We started with chocolate panna cotta (Italian chocolate pudding to me), are moving on to chocolate pots de creme (French chocolate pudding) and I'll have another chocolate pudding post on Sunday.

And while I never would have chosen to consume so much heavy cream in one week, it has presented an interesting opportunity to compare and contrast different methods for making what is basically an emulsion of chocolate in heavy cream.
While the panna cotta was thickened with gelatin, these pots de creme rely on egg yolks and cook in a water bath.

I used Valrhona 70% bittersweet chocolate because I was searching for deep chocolate flavor and with only 4 ounces of chocolate for 3 cups of cream and milk, high percentage chocolate was a must. Although the custard seemed like the flavor would be light weight, the finished pots de creme were lushly chocolate and creamy. Very dangerous, I must somehow share the rest...

Check out what the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers thought here. And please visit Christine of Black Cat Cooking for the recipe. She's our host this week and I have her to thank for finding this week's best pudding recipe!