Sweet Testing: Butterscotch Pot de Crème

Lately, I’ve been on a mission. A butterscotch mission. A few years back, I started wondering, Whatever happened to butterscotch?? As a kid, butterscotch was one of my favorite flavors, but as an adult it had virtually disappeared from my life. Was butterscotch a flavor that was only used in children’s desserts?? Was that the issue? Or had butterscotch simply fallen out of favor? I wasn’t sure what caused this culinary drought in my life. All I knew was the butterscotch needed to make a comeback…and it needed to happen soon! Thankfully, the guys at Baked seem to share my retro fondness for butterscotch (I knew I loved them for a reason) and posted this recipe for Butterscotch Pots de Crème on their website. Was this finally the butterscotch revival that I’d been dreaming about?? Excited to relive the glory days of my butterscotch-flavored past, I wasted no time in making these babies and I was not disappointed. These little desserts are delicious! And so easy to make! I especially love how they’re jazzed up with a bit of sea salt on the top. So, so, so good. Let the butterscotch resurgence begin! --Erin



You can find the complete recipe after the jump.

Butterscotch Pot de Crème from Travis Lett of Gjelina, adapted from The National Historical Baking Society

Ingredients
6 large egg yolks (use farm fresh eggs with the beautiful yellow yolks if you can)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 ⅓ cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
1 tablespoon (or more) of good Scotch whiskey
⅔ cup crème fraîche

chunky fleur de sel, for serving


Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place 6 or 8 ramekins in a roasting pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolk until combined.

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and brown sugar. Whisk until mixture is smooth. Whisking constantly, cook for 3 to 4 minutes until mixture smells nutty. Slowly add the heavy cream in a slow stream while gently whisking. (The mixture may harden or turn lumpy in spots – don’t worry, this will smooth out as it cooks). Continue whisking/stirring (be sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the pan) and bring the cream just to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the salt, vanilla bean paste, and Scotch.
Whisking constantly, slowly (very slowly at first) stream the cream mixture into the egg mixture until combined. Pour the mixture through a fine-mess sieve into another bowl (sorry about all the bowls).

Divide the custard equally among the ramekins, and carefully pour hot tap water into the roasting pan until the water reaches about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until the custards are set around the edge but still wobbly in the middle. Remove the coffee cups from the water, let cool for 10 minutes, and refrigerate (uncovered) for at least 3 hours.

To serve: let the pots de crème sit out of the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Then top with whipped crème fraîche (just whisk vigorously by hand) followed by fleur de sel.