Peach Pots de Crème

The biggest thing to take note of in this recipe is the cooking method - or methods, to be more accurate. There are a variety of ways you can make these pots de crème, and I go into this in a lot more detail below. First though, I'll explain a bit about pots de crème in general, as well as a few ingredient-based points.

I want to make a very important note about what a pot de creme SHOULD be. I love a good mousse, but a pot de crème is NOT mousse. Mousse is well-set but airy - a spoonful of it should hold it's shape very well. A pot de crème should be more like a pudding - not particularly airy, and somewhat loosely set (see the picture above). If you poured it, it would flow - albeit very slowly. The whole reason that they're served in pots is that, unlike a flan, panna cotta, or crème caramel, pots de crème won't hold their shape if you try to turn them out onto a plate.

All that being said, the final texture can vary depending on personal tastes and cooking methods. For more on this see the section below, and the next two photos for an idea of what to look for.

Yes, yogurt! As I mentioned above, one of the things that makes this recipe different is the fact that is plays off of the tangy brightness of fruit by using a mixture of yogurt and cream. Any good quality plain yogurt will work fine, though I would personally use one with at least some fat. I used a standard yogurt, but I think that a Greek (or other thick-style) yogurt would work quite well, especially in the blender version where you're looking for a bit of help with getting things to set up.

This recipe is well-suited to variations - especially with other types of stone fruit. Nectarines are obviously a possibility, but apricots and cherries would both make stellar substitutes (or additions, if you're looking to do a mixed fruit pot de crème). Plums might work too, though they're generally much softer and more fibrous which could make for a textural challenge. Berries are a good bet too, though you'll want to strain out for any seeds (I actually like seeds in my berries, but they don't do a smooth dessert like this any favours). Regardless of the type of fruit you choose to use, make sure it's very ripe and flavourful. You're not incorporating all that much fruit into the pots de crème themselves, so you want to make sure it's got enough distinctive taste to stand out in the finished dessert.

Don't worry about going overboard on the garnishing fruit here either, as it adds more flavour and a nice bit of contrasting texture to the finished pots de crème.  And honestly, can you ever have too many good peaches?

Eggs can do some pretty amazing things when it comes to dessert. They can also turn into a scrambled mess if you don't treat them carefully. Pots de crème (and other custard desserts) utilize an initial step of whisking heated cream into the eggs and sugar in order to create a stable, tempered egg mixture. These partially cooked eggs are less likely to curdle in the final cooking steps. It's worth noting, however, that there's some controversy involved in this step. The high-speed blender method (more on this below) skips it altogether because the eggs are effectively tempered as part of the low-heat cooking method. I've included tempering steps for the stovetop and oven methods, though there are arguments for skipping it (especially for the stovetop method, which is basically an extended tempering method as is). This might sound a little crazy, but it's not without precedent even in classical French desserts - crème anglaise is generally made in much the same way as the stovetop pot de crème method I've given here, but without tempering the eggs in advance.

Ultimately, the tempering step is actually quite easy to do, so don't feel like you should worry about getting it done (or leaving it out).  If you do curdle your eggs by accident, read the section on troubleshooting below.

I tested the heck out of this recipe in order to come up with a few different cooking methods. Each version has pros and cons, so I've gone into a bit more detail below.

Most importantly, I found the flavour profile pretty much identical across all three methods. The photo above shows the finished pots de crème and give you some sense of how the different cooking methods affect the final appearance of the dessert.

Pros: Extremely easy and fast, nearly impossible to overcook
Cons: Somewhat runnier texture, lots of bubbles, requires a high-speed blender

By far the easiest method (and the one I was most curious to figure out), this version requires no stovetop tempering or cooking, and no baking. High-speed, high-power blenders (e.g. Vitamix, Ninja, and Blendtec) are able to heat food up considerably thanks to the friction of the blades whirring through the ingredients. They generally can't get hot enough to boil foods, but that happens to be just perfect for cooking custards and other recipes where you want to cook eggs without scrambling them. The blades also keep everything moving, which takes the place of whisking needed in other methods.

I recommend this method if you're in a hurry, if you don't have a reliable stove/oven, or if you're nervous about getting custards to work right.  You can also combine this method with the others by partially cooking the custard in the blender before finishing it on the stovetop or in the oven (with adjusted cooking times of course).  If you find that the finished custard isn't quite at the thickness you're looking for you can also finish it by using the last steps of the stovetop method - but do note that the dessert will set and firm up more as it cools.

Pros: Excellent texture, no bubbles, no special equipment
Cons: Labour intensive

This method was quite the lovely surprise to me, as it yielded a wonderfully smooth and fairly thick end product.  It takes less time than the oven method and you have a lot more control over the texture of the finished pot de crème.  The basic idea behind this method is that you're using relatively low heat to cook the custard mixture while keeping it in constant motion.  This keeps the eggs from curdling, but it does mean that you need to be ready to attend to the stove and stir fairly quickly for the duration.

I recommend this method if you don't mind stirring for a while and if you want a relatively thick pot de crème with a very smooth texture.  If you're looking to try another recipe that uses this method, I'd urge you to check out this one from my friend Janice at Kitchen Heals Soul - it's a great recipe, and she helped me sort out some of the methodology stuff related to all of this egg tempering business.

Pros: No special equipment, less labour-intensive
Cons: Much harder to control texture and consistency of finished product

This might be the OG way to make pots de crème, but it's also my least favourite way.  The technique involves submerging the pots partially in water in order to control the high heat of the oven and keep the eggs from curdling. While it is fairly hands-off (following the tempering period), it's tricky to figure out the exact right time to get the things out of the oven. It's also trickier to control cracking/separation of the custard (as you can see in the photo above). Likewise, it's easy to overshoot a bit and end up with a slightly chunky end product (as you can see in the photo below).  It definitely helps if you know your oven well - if it's finicky or has significant hot spots you'd probably be better off using one of the other two methods listed above.

If you do go with the oven method and you have any trouble with the custard over-cooking, check out the section on trouble-shooting below.

I really, really wanted to come up with a method for making these in the Instant Pot. I desperately wanted it to work, so I did a ton of research and tried out a variety of methods.

T'was not meant to be.

There are some Instant Pot egg custard and pot de crème recipes out there and I did a fair bit of sleuthing to try to get things to work, but something about this recipe makes it very difficult to avoid overcooking.  I tried both tempered and un-tempered versions, and even a zero minute cooking time overcooked the custard.  There may be a way to make it work by depressurizing after a set period of time, but that's going to make for a finicky, elevation-specific technique that will be very hard to replicate at home.  I plan to experiment with it further in the future, but I didn't want to publish a half-finished method.  So no Instant Pot for now.  BUT - those troublesome failures did lead to a boon of sorts.  I was able to figure out how to rescue the overcooked batches, turning them into perfectly lovely and smooth pots de crème.  I thought it'd be nice to share that info with you.

If your custard gets badly overcooked you'll end up with chunky egg bits floating in a thin liquid. Not good. Fortunately it can be salvaged with a blender and a few fresh ingredients. Simply add the overcooked custard back into a blender along with an extra whole egg, about 1/2 cup of cream, a tablespoon of sugar, and another half a peach. Blend everything together VERY thoroughly. If you've got a high-speed blender you can just run it for about 4-5 minutes to set the curd (though if you badly overcooked things you probably weren't using this method to begin with). Alternatively, I would suggest going to the stovetop method and finishing the salvaged pots de crème this way. I fixed a couple of pots with this method and they were deliciously indistinguishable from their more successful siblings.

If your pots de crème are just a tiny bit overcooked, you can empty them into a heat-proof bowl and whisk vigorously, then strain and pour back into containers to set. Don't attempt this method if you've got badly curdled eggs, but it does work nicely if you've ended up with something that looks sort of like wet ricotta. That being said, this is more of a cosmetic issue than anything; slightly over-baked pots de crème will still taste fine.

It's easy to end up with a lot of air bubbles in the uncooked custard.  These have no bearing on the taste of the finished dessert, but they're not terribly pretty, and they can mess with the texture a little.  The constant whisking in the stovetop method does a great job of working out most of the bubbles, but there are a couple of things you can do to try and deal with them while using the other methods too.

First of all, try tapping the ramekins on the counter repeatedly.  A lot of bubbles will rise to the surface and pop this way, though it's tough to get them all.  If you're using the blender method you want to try to do this as much as you can before the hot custard cools off.  The bubbles do tend to rise to the top well, but won't always pop.  You can skim the top layer with a small strainer to get rid of them if you're so inclined.

It's trickiest to deal with bubbles when using the high-speed blender method, as you've got to try to get them out of the hot/set mixture before they cool off.  Try tapping the entire mixture vigorously and skimming the top layer before pouring into ramekins. If you've still got a lot of bubbles to deal with but your custard hasn't cooled/set yet, you can carefully transfer it to a large bowl and whisk it to get rid of a lot of them (basically replicating the end of the stovetop method).

What can you do if the set pots de crème have more bubbles than you want on top? Cover everything with garnish.  Sure it sounds like cheating, but it's really just a cosmetic issue.  And hey, you're going to want to put a bunch of tasty, tasty peaches on top of these anyway, so there's no need to drive yourself crazy.