Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
1 t. instant espresso powder (or instant coffee)
4 oz. chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (or a combination, or chocolate chips)
6 egg yolks
3 Tb. sugar
1/4 t. salt (preferably sea salt)
Preparation
Heat the cream, espresso powder and chocolate in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, beat together the egg yolks, sugar and salt in a medium-large bowl.
When the cream mixture is almost at a simmer, gradually pour it into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking to combine as you do so. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat, stirring almost constantly, on medium-low until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon (or reaches 175-180 degrees, if you have an instant read thermometer), about five minutes. Do not let the mixture overheat or simmer. Quickly pour the custard into a clean bowl (or the previous one, rinsed in hot water) and chill until cold. Serve with whipped cream.
Variations: You could easily replace the heavy cream with a combination of cream and milk or half and half. These are very rich, and some milk would lighten them. You could also replace (or augment) the espresso powder with vanilla, almond or even mint extract. You could make mud pie pots de creme by adding 1-3 teaspoons of bourbon along with the espresso. Cointreau, orange rind and/or chipotle powder (in moderation) would also work well.
