SHF #11 (Coffee): Espresso Pot de Crème with Honey Sabayon

Coffee is this month's main ingredient for Sugar High Fridays, a monthly cooking and blogging event created by the Domestic Goddess. This month's event is being hosted by loveSicily.

I love coffee desserts and had a whole list of things I wanted to try. I spent the week obsessing over how to make a deconstructed Vietnamese Iced Coffee (and probably driving Greg batty with my musings on said subject although he's been remarkably restrained and polite while listening to me). The furthest I got to re-engineering the drink was to envision a base of condensed milk ice cream but I can't figure out the proper vehicle for the coffee yet, so until then, I'll keep mucking with the idea. I made cafè liègeois (essentially a coffee float) for Joetta Friday night which resulted in caffeine induced insomnia. This was probably not the best thing to do to a woman who has a two month old baby and is barely getting enough sleep as it is. I thought about making the Banana Walnut Cake with Coffee Buttercream from the Sweet Serendipity cookbook, but in the end, decided to go with my favorite coffee dessert.

For my first foray to Sugar High Fridays, I'm offering Espresso Pot de Crème with Honey Sabayon.

It was created by Pastry Chef David Stevens at the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston, who calls it "Cappuccino Crème Brulée with Honey Sabayon." Although I'm not fond of crème brulée, I originally ordered it because I'd never heard of a honey sabayon and was rather intrigued (I'm a marketing victim when it comes to well-written menus). It became the dessert of choice for the entire week I stayed at the hotel because 1) it wasn't crème brulée in the traditional sense, lacking a sugar crust and 2) the flavors were extraordinary. The honey sabayon was the best part, with a rich, silky texture; I thought at first it was flavored whipped cream, but it wasn't and being curious (and obsessive-compulsive), I asked for the recipe.

Chef Stevens kindly sent up the coffee custard portion, but omitted the sabayon. Being persistent (and obsessive-compulsive), I went down to the hotel's restaurant and waited for him (Hubby: "You stalked a chef?"). We ended up having a nice chat and I thanked him for the partial recipe, then asked for the sabayon part.

"It requires making a pastry cream."

Aha! Pastry cream. Now the flavors and texture made sense.

I assured him I could make a pastry cream and he perked up. "Most people have no idea what it is so I never include that in the recipe. I'll get the rest of the recipe for you."

I originally served it by its proper name, but got so many confused reactions from dinner guests who were expecting cappuccino-flavored crème brulée that I started referring to it as a pot de crème. I also started using espresso and changed its name again (really, after you put a mustache on the Mona Lisa, why stop your vandalism there?) although it's got milk and cream in it, so cappuccino is probably the more correct term.

I made it for dinner last night with Jenn and Joetta (who ate 1/4 of the dessert - probably because she actually wants to sleep tonight).

In order to take pictures this morning, I had to eat a couple of the pots de crèmes. I just didn't like the way those pictures came out but I felt it was necessary to suffer for my art...

Espresso Pot de Crème with Honey Sabayon

Serves 10

for the pot de crème:

- 1 2/3 cups milk
- 1 2/3 cups heavy cream
- 1/4 cup espresso (I use Illy) or freshly ground coffee
- 1 T instant coffee
- 1 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar
- 7 egg yolks

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Bring the milk and cream to a boil, then remove from heat and whisk in both coffees. Allow to steep, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Beat the yolks and sugar until the mixture is thick and pale, and the batter falls in a heavy ribbon (about 10 minutes). Gradually whisk in the coffee infusion (be careful to temper the eggs by whisking in bit of the hot liquid at first before pouring in the rest of the infusion or you'll end up with sweet, coffee flavored scrambled eggs). Strain through a chinois or very fine sieve.

Divide cream mixture among ten ramekins or custard cups. Arrange the ramekins in a baking pan and pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up sides of dishes. Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes, or until the custard is set but still slightly soft in the center. Remove from the oven and allow the ramekins to cool in the water bath.

Refrigerate overnight. To serve, pipe or spoon the honey sabayon on top of the pot de crème and lightly dust with cocoa powder.

for the honey sabayon (and pastry cream)

2 cups milk
1 cup confectioner's sugar
5 yolks
2 T cornstarch
1 oz butter
1 T vanilla extract

Make the pastry cream first:

Bring the milk, 1/2 the sugar, and vanilla to a boil. Remove from heat.

Whisk the remaining sugar, yolks, and corn starch in a medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot milk. Return to saucepan and cook over medium heat until pastry cream thickens and boils, whisking constantly, about 5 minutes. Whisk in butter. Transfer to bowl. Cover the surface of pastry cream with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming and chill about 3 hours.

To make the honey sabayon, combine equal portions of pastry cream with fresh whipped cream that has been sweetened with honey.

Comments

[Jennifer]

This looks and sounds absolutely divine. And alas, to suffer for your art is not a crime. I too do that many days!

Thanks so much for joining in on SHF!

[Ruth]

The recipe looks great and the story even better. Thanks for sharing.

[boo_licious]

I like the story and the dessert which looks super yummy.

[Cath]

Jennifer, Ruth and boo_licious:

Thanks so much for the kind words! This was a lot of fun and I can't wait to try my hand at the next SHF. I'm afraid if I keep suffering for my art though, I'm going to need to suffer more on a treadmill....

:-)

[keiko]

Hi Cath - such an elegant and delicious sounding dessert! I love the beautiful cup too ;)

[Cath]

Hi Keiko,

It really is a wonderful dessert -- Chef Stevens is a genius. Enjoy and thanks for dropping by!

[antonio]

muchas gracias por las recetas y la forma de conseguirlas le deseo suerte en laproxima

[Cath]

Gracias por su commentario amable acerca de la receta, Antonio. ¡Espero que disfrutalo con buen gusto!