Mexican Chocolate and Chilli Pots de Crème
MEXICAN · MEXICO

Mexican Chocolate and Chilli Pots de Crème

Pot de crème de chocolate mexicano con chileDessert

Dense, silky baked custard shot through with dark chocolate, cinnamon and a slow chilli warmth that arrives after the spoon goes down. Forty minutes of work for a dessert that tastes like it took all day.

Total
55 min
Heat
3/5
Serves
6

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Flavour profile

Heat
Funk
Acid
Richness
Umami
  • Creamy
  • Rich
  • Spicy
  • Sweet

The real deal

Region
Mexico — the chocolate-and-chilli pairing of Oaxaca and Puebla, poured as a French-style baked custard.
Technique
A stirred custard of cream and chocolate baked gently in a water bath until barely set, chillies steeped in the cream rather than thrown in raw.
We kept
Real Mexican chocolate, canela and dried chillies, no gelatine and no whipped filler — the pot is what it is.

Ingredients

6 Serves

custard

  • 120 g · chopped or broken into tablets
  • 360 ml
  • 120 ml
  • 6
  • 60 g
  • 1 pinch
  • 1 tbsp
  • 1 tsp

infusion

  • 2 · stemmed, seeded
  • 1 · stemmed, seeded
  • 1 · one quill

finish

  • 1 pinch
  • 1 pinch · optional
  • 3 tbsp · optional

bath

  • 1 l · for the water bath

Method

  1. Heat a dry pan over medium heat and press the and flat for about 1 min, turning once, until they plump and smell like raisins and tobacco. Do not let them blacken, or the custard turns bitter.

    Burnt chilli is bitter chilli — pull them the moment the smell turns sweet.

  2. Pour 360 ml and 120 ml into a pan with the toasted chillies, the and 1 pinch . Bring to the barest tremble over low heat, then take it off the heat and leave to steep for 20 min. The cream should smell warmly of chilli and cinnamon, not hot with it.

    Taste after ten minutes: if the heat is already fierce, fish the chillies out early.

  3. Chop the into small shards so it melts fast and evenly.

  4. Whisk the 6 with the and until pale and glossy, about 1 min. Whisk in .

  5. Heat the oven to 150 °C and put the kettle on. Sit six small ramekins or little pots in a deep roasting tin and boil 1 l for the water bath.

  6. Strain infused cream into a clean pan, pressing the chillies and cinnamon against the sieve to get every drop of flavour. Bring back to a bare tremble, pull it off the heat and add the chocolate. Let it sit for 1 min, then stir from the middle out until completely smooth and glossy.

    If the chocolate refuses to melt, set the pan back over low heat for a few seconds only — never boil a chocolate custard.

  7. Pour chocolate base into the yolks in a slow stream, whisking the whole time, until fully combined. Do it too fast and you get sweet scrambled eggs.

  8. Strain custard straight into the pots. Skim off any foam with a spoon so the tops bake glass-smooth.

  9. Pour water bath into the tin to come halfway up the pots. Bake filled pots for 25 min, until the edges are set but the centres still wobble like a soft-set jelly when you nudge the tin.

    Overbaked pots go grainy. When in doubt, pull them early — they firm up as they chill.

  10. Lift the pots out of the water bath and cool on a rack, then chill for at least 4 h. They are best the next day, when the chilli and cinnamon have settled into the chocolate.

  11. Just before serving, scatter a few over each pot, add a small spoon of and finish with a whisper more . Eat cold, slowly.

    Take them out of the fridge ten minutes ahead: fridge-cold custard tastes of nothing.

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Make it a meal

What hits hardest next to it.

  • DrinkBitterSmokyLight

    A bitter, spirit-forward sip stops the pot from turning cloying halfway through.

    Try: Espresso with a splash of mezcal

    Nothing on the site fits yet. Ask the Lab to cook one up →

  • DessertSourFreshLight

    Fresh fruit acid cuts the cream and makes the chilli taste hotter.

    Try: Mango slices with lime juice and chilli salt

    From our kitchen