Recipe: Dark chocolate shot glass dessert

The hardest part of this recipe is translating the French name of the dessert: “verrine“. (This just means that the rest is super easy!!!)

The so-called “verrines” are just small glasses used as containers for desserts (but also savoury appetizers, why not!): apparently they were “invented” in the mid-90’s and started to gain popularity ever since.

I decided to use shot glasses for a very simple dark chocolate dessert. These verrines are basically a custard sauce with the addition of dark chocolate.

The chocolate melts in the warm custard sauce but once in the fridge it will make the dessert dense and creamy at the same time. Its consistency is quite similar to that of a crème brûlée.

This is just a basic recipe, but, oh, do I need to tell you? You can add whatever you want on top: meringue or cookie crumbs, a raspberry coulis, fresh fruits… have fun!

Dark chocolate custard verrines

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Ingredients

150g	Whole milk
150g	Heavy cream
30g	Granulated sugar
1/2	Vanilla bean (optional)
3	Egg yolks
120g	Dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
	White chocolate

Directions

Heat the milk, cream, half of the sugar and the vanilla bean (if using) in a saucepan on medium heat, whisking regularly

Whisk together the egg yolks with the remaining sugar in a mixing bowl

When the milk and cream mixture is boiling, pour it in three times on the yolk mixture, whisking quickly and continuously to prevent curdling

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan on low heat and stir continuously with a spatula. Move the spatula back and forth gently and always in the same direction to avoid incorporating air.

At the beginning the mixture will be very liquid, then the air bubbles will disappear and the custard will become a darker yellow colour.

Continue stirring the custard until it reaches 82°C (pasteurisation temperature). Keep it at 82°C for a couple of minutes. In any case, the custard temperature should remain below 85°C to prevent the egg yolks from curdling (this means: absolutely DO NOT BOIL it!).
The custard is ready when it is thickened enough to leave a path on the back of a spoon when a finger is drawn across.

Place the chocolate in a bowl and strain one third of the custard over it

Stir gently with a spatula to emulsify the mixture

Strain the remaining part of the custard in two times, stirring after each time

Mix the chocolate custard with an immersion blender until it's completely smooth and no bubbles remain

Pour the mixture in the glasses and refrigerate for at least two hours

When the custard has set, use a potato peeler to cut white chocolate shaves for decoration

Note

The finished sauce should last 3 to 4 days.
Eggs are a potentially hazardous food with a high bacterial content, so they must be pasteurised by keeping the custard at 82°C for 1-2 minutes in this recipe. This will kill all the bacteria in the custard. Any temperature above 85°C is risky since the yolks might start curdling.
The final custard with pasteurised eggs should not be poured in the container that contained the raw eggs, as this would make the pasteurisation useless.
The custard must be chilled quickly to prevent the proliferationof bacteria