This easy and elegant dessert is my go-to when we have people over for dinner. In fact, chances are if you’ve been over to our house for dinner, this is what I served you.

If I didn’t, please notify me immediately so that I can rectify the situation with an emergency dinner party.

I’ve never met a dessert before that was so delicious and so easy. Really, really easy. I know, everyone and their mother promotes recipes by saying ‘it’s really easy, guys!’ but this one–this one. This one is the real deal. You blend a couple things, and then chill the mixture. And that’s it. It’s one of the Pioneer Woman’s more brilliant recipes, and I bring it to you in step-by-step form today.

Ingredients

(Serves 6)

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

4 eggs, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract (or Kahlua, Baileys, Amarula, cognac, etc.)

1 pinch of salt

8 oz strong, hot coffee

First, my friends, let your eggs get to room temperature on the counter. If you forget to take them out ahead of time, run them under some tepid/warm water for a few minutes and they’ll warm right up.

Now grab your trusty blender and put in the chocolate chips and the eggs.

I chose to use a gross dirty old blender from Big Jake’s basement.

I should clarify for my hygiene-conscious friends: the glass receptacle is spanking clean. The gross and dirty part is the base, and that’s only because I don’t want to get close enough to clean it. But it chuggalugs along, and that’s all that I ask of it for now–we’ll talk about blender beauty pageants in future years.

Looks delish, eh?

Add the salt (a “healthy pinch”) . . .

And the flavoring. You can use vanilla extract, but you can also amp it up with a fun liqueur. Kahlua or Baileys are obvious choices.

I chose to use a bottle of Amarula from Aunt Laura. It was out of this world.

And there it all is! One big happy dessert-to-be.

Blend!

After things seem pretty homogeneous, and while it’s blending, pour the coffee into the blender in a slow, steady stream. I reiterate that it must be very, very hot. In fact, bring the coffee to a boil in your microwave just before adding it in–this has great bearing on the final texture of the dessert.

You can prepare a gourmet pot of espresso expressly for this purpose . . . or you can use instant coffee. I used a packet of Starbucks via mixed with some off-brand instant coffee to add strength.

Now say ‘espresso expressly’ ten times fast. If you can do it perfectly, you will receive a cool little prize from me.

The ‘cool little prize’ is my eternal admiration of your agile tongue. And aren’t the intangible prizes the most valuable ones? I mean, ultimately? Doesn’t the promise of my approval make you want to try your best?

What? You could care less about my approval? But I’m an older sister! Everyone must work to please me!

Wow, that tangent is headed for some kind of frenzied crisis, so let’s return to the chocolate that brought us here today. After about a minute of blending, you will have a creamy, chocolaty mess. Blend for an extra minute just to make sure everything has gotten married and become One Flesh. We don’t want granules of chocolate chips floating around trying to be independent.

Pour the mix into serving glasses.

Just leave plenty of room for the whipped cream that you’ll be heaping on them before serving.

It can be fun to use glasses of assorted shapes.

It adds a little whimsy to the whole sordid affair.

Now chill them in the fridge for 3-4 hours.

Right before serving, whip some heavy cream and pile it on. I whipped a little more Amarula into my cream the last time I made these, and it was fantastic.

You can fold in pieces of fruit, and top it off with chocolate shavings or little curls of orange peel if you’re feeling fancy.

I’m feeling fancy. Let’s pile on the chopped up chocolate!

Beautiful, eh?

Let’s take a bite.

So rich . . . so decadent . . . like silk on the tongue.

And just for fun, let’s add some chopped up canned mandarin oranges.

Don’t even get me started on the idea of adding heaps of fresh berries when the summer returns. *swooning* Fruit and chocolate were meant to be together.

I can’t seem to stop photographing these little beauties. And envisioning variations–such as stirring minced cranberries into the chocolate before chilling, to add a note of tartness. Or sprinkling some peanuts and macadamias on top right before serving–along the whipped cream. The whipped cream is one thing I’m not compromising on; it adds a necessary balance to the richness of the chocolate.

Make this dessert for your next dinner party! You can throw it together the night before, and it’s guaranteed to please everyone. Or you can always just make it for yourself. One batch should provide one fortunate individual with a dessert for every single night of the week. Now that’s an idea . . .

Click here for printer-friendly version: Pôts de Crème