Easy Valentine's Day Desert : Baked Chocolate Custard

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! Hope you have a day full of love and joy today. Whether you spent the day at a fine dinning restaurant or just a quiet dinner at home with your love one, I'm sure it's a wonderful one. For people like me that is married with kids, probably have lesser chance or time to appreciate this day. But just think of it this way, so long as you and your love one enjoy the time spend together, any day can be Valentine's Day! Most importantly is to cherish one another. (^o^)

Today I would like to introduce a lovely and delicious desert that is sure to melt your love ones' heart when they get a taste of it; Baked Chocolate Custard.

I got this wonderful recipe from a cookbook from Donna Hay. Its been ages since I used it and am glad I did this time! All thanks to Zoe who has this "Cook like a Star" blog hop thing that got me digging through my cookbooks. However the event will only starts in March so I guess my post is too early for it. :P Nevertheless, I am sure this recipe will be an excellent treat to have whether its Valentine's Day or just any day! Plus it is so so easy to whip up too! Check out the recipe:

Ingredients for Baked Chocolate Custard (makes 6 x 4oz ramekins)

1 cup whole milk (I used 1/2 cup chocolate, 1/2 white)

1 cup (single or pouring) fresh cream

100g dark chocolate, chopped (I used Valrohna 70% cocoa)

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

100g caster sugar (you can reduce if using milk chocolate)

1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract

• Preheat the oven to 150C. Place chopped chocolate, milk and cream in a saucepan over medium heat and stir well till all the chocolate has melted and mixed in. Continue to heat till hot but not boiling. Remove from fire and set aside for use later.
• Place the eggs, yolks, sugar and vanilla in another mixing bowl and mix well till combined. Slowly whisk in the cream and milk mixture in to the egg mixture until all is combined.
• Grease 6 x 4 oz ramekins. Pour the hot custard into the ramekins through a fine sieve / strainer. Place the filled ramekins into a baking tray and pour in enough hot water to fill about halfway up the side of the ramekins.

• Bake for about 35 minutes or until just set. Serve warm or cold.

I think I took at most a little over an hour to get this done. Really so easy to whip up, I think even my 7 year old can do it, lol! I much preferred it chilled since it taste like thicken chocolate pudding / cream that is so smooth and chocolaty...heaven! Be sure to use the best quality dark chocolate you can find, it makes all the difference. (^_^)

My whole family loved it! Top with ice cream or whipped cream? You don't need any of those, because it is already so good on its own. Try it out and you will soon be scooping and scraping to the bottom of the ramekins to get to the very last bits of it. ;)

Okay everyone, that's all I have for you all today. Hope your Valentine's Day celebration was a lovely and memorable one! Cheers all!