Butterscotch Pots de Crème, a Peace Offering

Let us see.  Where to begin?  

Much has happened since we last left off.  I have moved, suffered a terribly sad breakup, a gladiatorial chest-rattling ailment, and a two-hour midterm on microbes.

Instead of feeling incredibly weepy for myself, I come here today with an offering of pots de crème for the universe.  Essentially, this is pudding.  But pudding so good it has silenced rooms. 

I have yet to see it last longer than a minute or two in any human’s presence and have made the recipe a couple times—once with muscovado and later on with plain old brown sugar.  If you do not have the former do not be dissuaded.  In either case, it is well worth the pint of cream.

The result is more custardy than you might expect—heavy cream and egg yolks will do that.  It is not tooth-achingly sweet either, as some butterscotch desserts can be.  I also highly recommend leaving the cloud of whipped cream on top unsweetened.  It wonderfully balances the rich, toasty caramel that lies beneath.

The recipe conveniently makes four dinner guest-sized portions.  Except when you are only having two dinner guests.  Then you have a double ration for the cook.  Or perhaps you walk the ancillary portion down to your friends at the neighborhood wine shop? Who devour it in your presence.  And swear a little doing so.

The point is, no one who has seen the likes of these pots de crème has been able to resist them.  Nothing but praise.  Dishes scraped clean.  So tuck this recipe away for a day when you need a little extra oomph. 

Because all is fair in love, war, and pudding.

Butterscotch Pots de Crème

Adapted from Orangette and Gourmet

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream, divided
• 6 tbsp dark muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp demerara sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Set your oven to 300 degrees and make sure you have a rack positioned on the middle level.  In a small saucepan, combine 1½ cups of heavy cream with the muscovado (or brown sugar) and salt.  

Bring to barely a simmer on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from the heat.

In a medium saucepan, combine 6 tbsp of water with the demerara sugar over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until the sugar gets browned and bubbly (it helps if you don’t use a dark-colored pan, so you can easily check the hue).  You’ll want it almost chestnut in color (this should take about 5 minutes).

Remove the browned sugar liquid from the heat and slowly add in the cream mixture, whisking to combine. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and vanilla and then add the hot cream mixture in a slow, thin stream, continuously whisking until combined. 

Set a fine-mesh sieve over a glass measuring cup and pour the custard through (you’ll need a 1-quart size or you’ll have to pour it in batches).  Skim off any foam with a spoon.

Select a baking dish that is large enough to hold four ramekins (or other oven-proof containers) without touching.  Fold a dishtowel to line the bottom of the dish.  Place your ramekins in the pan and divide your mixture among them.  Place a piece of aluminum foil over the top of each to help prevent a skin from forming.

Slide the baking dish into the oven and pour hot tap water into the dish until it is halfway up the sides of the ramekins.  Bake until the custard is set around the edges but still slightly jiggles in the middle when shaken (about 40 minutes).

Carefully remove the ramekins (they will be hot) and let cool on a wire rack (discard the foil).  The custard will continue to set as it cools.  Meanwhile, whip the remaining ½ cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form (you can do this by hand or with a stand mixer).  Refrigerate both the cooled pudding and the whipped cream for a few hours.

Divide the whipped cream among the puddings and serve.

Makes 4

Notes:

1. These are best the day they are made.
2. If you do not have demerara, you might try using the Sugar In The Raw packets you see at coffee shops.  This is turbinado sugar and isn’t as deeply molasses-flavored but may be a good last-ditch effort.  
    

Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies (A Funny Thing Happened)

There are few times in a person’s life when having an oatmeal cookie sounds like a bad idea.  Perhaps when giving birth, or when running a six-minute mile. Otherwise, it is fair game as far as I am concerned. 

Oatmeal cookies say warmth, fall, and comfortable sweaters. These do not suggest otherwise.  My coworker, Anne, first brought them into work, thick with white chocolate and dried cranberries.  And while I do not really love either adornment in other sweet things, I quickly decided they were some of the best cookies I had ever known.  

So I got the recipe.  Swapped in butterscotch and apricot for the chocolate and cranberries.  Then I baked and I tasted, hot out of the oven. 

The cookie was okay. It was not one of the best I had ever known. 

I ate three more, just to be sure.  And then I put the rest in plastic bags, sealed them in, and went to bed feeling a little sick.

But a funny thing happened overnight. Those boring little cookies morphed into something else entirely. Something nutty and chewy, with a dose of oats thick enough to suggest they mean business.  Plus a caramel undercarriage and just enough salt to balance it all out.

I am going to go ahead and say that browning the butter is a must, as is baking them the night before you need them.  The walnuts are in there for a reason, so resist the urge to take them out if you can. You will need good quality oats too, along with a little patience.  I suspect you can hang loose with the chocolate and dried fruit.

The rest pretty much takes care of itself.  We are not birthing a child here, mind you, but having a recipe like this still feels like a win.

Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• ½ cup walnuts
• 2⅔ cups old-fashioned oats
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped dried apricots
• 6 ounces of butterscotch chips
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1⅓ cup dark muscovado sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Toast the walnuts until fragrant (either in the oven or in a pan; I used a cast-iron skillet); set aside.  

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside.  In a medium bowl, add the oats and sift in the flour, baking soda, and salt; add in the apricots and butterscotch.  Finely chop the walnuts and stir in until everything is well combined.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium low heat until it turns golden brown and fragrant (about four minutes); this happens very quickly so be sure to watch.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, pour in the browned butter and whisk in the sugar until well combined (a minute or two).  Add in the eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla and whisk until well combined.  Add in the dry mixture and stir until just combined.  (The mixture will be thick.)

Chill the batter for 15 to 30 minutes; meanwhile preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Once chilled, scoop the batter using a tablespoon to gather up a heaping amount (about 2 to 3 tbsp) of dough and gently round it loosely into balls spaced 2 inches apart on the prepared sheets.

Bake until lightly golden and just dry to the touch but still soft in the center (about 10 minutes).  

Slide the parchment onto wire racks to cool.  Line the sheets with more parchment and repeat with remaining batches.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Notes:

1. Let the walnuts cool slightly so they aren’t piping hot when you mix them in.
2. My oven runs a little hot, so I ended up dropping the temperature slightly, but these cook pretty quickly so watch them.
3. These freeze beautifully and really do get better with age.
4. If you do not have muscovado, use dark or light brown sugar and don’t look back.