Burnt Honey Pots de Crème, Anise Roasted Apricots, Pine Nut Brittle

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“Burning” the honey caramelises it so the flavour is more complex – nutty, with a hint of bitterness to offset the sweetness. (Helen Goh)

There have been quite a few new subscribers here over the last few days, so if you are reading this and you are one of them, you might want to head here for my Intro post for a little bit of background about myself and what to expect from this newsletter! I’m also working on a Recipe Index which will make it easier to find all the recipes I have already shared here on Substack. 

With that out of the way, let’s talk about today’s recipe. Like many folks, I adore all things caramel. Case in point, my favourite big name chocolate bars are Snickers, Twix and Lion - what do they all have in common? Ribbons of chewy caramel! And if it’s on the menu, you bet I will want to order the crème caramel for dessert. So it is a bit surprising that it took me until this year to start playing around with burnt honey, i.e. caramelized honey. Especially for someone who often has several jars of honey on the go at the same time (right now a jar of beautifully thick Linden honey, an almost treacly avocado honey, a big jar of nutty chestnut honey and some Manuka honey for when the next cold threatens an impending arrival). 

But now that I have burnt some honey, there is no going back. Because burnt honey tastes amazing. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise since caramelizing sugars changes and concentrates their flavour, adding a pleasant bitterness.

To start with, I wanted to make something simple with the burnt honey. In part to best showcase the burnt honey’s flavour. And that is how these burnt honey pots de crème came about. 

What are pots de crème? Pots de crème are really just little custard pots by another (French) name, although, as the name implies, these little custard pots are typically made with cream as well as milk. They are also often enriched with egg yolks so are all together a slightly more decadent affair. 

Of course once I made these little pots de crème and was happy with their flavour, I could not resist turning what on its own is own already a delicious dessert into something a little bit more special with some anise-scented roasted apricots and pine nut brittle on the side.

If you have never made brittle before, at its most simple it is thin shards of nuts or seeds (or a mixture) encased in a hard (i.e. brittle) caramel. There are of course many different ways of making brittle - be it by changing up the sugars, the nuts or seeds and other add-ons for example. But for this recipe, I wanted something simple - a recipe using just 3 ingredients, 4 if you count the water which helps the sugar melt and caramelise more evenly, all of which, except for the pine nuts maybe, you should already have at home. And you can of course replace the pine nuts with other nuts and seeds you already have at home - sesame seeds would be great here, or slivered almonds for example.

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Burnt Honey Pots de Crème, Anise Roasted Apricots, Pine Nut Brittle

Note: Both the anise roasted apricots and the pine nut brittle are optional but I would urge you to give them a try. They take these little custard pots from indulgent-mid-week-after-dinner-treat to fancy-dessert-fit-for-dinner-with-your-inlaws! Plus, both components can easily be made a few days in advance (just make sure you store the pine nut brittle in an airtight container) if you would like to spread the (admittedly limited) work over several days. The roasted apricots make quite a bit more than you will need for this recipe (because I think it would be silly to turn on the oven to roast just 4 apricots) but the leftovers will be delicious paired with some vanilla ice cream, Greek yoghurt or simply added to your morning bowl of Porridge. 

Ingredients

For the pots de crème 

60g honey
250ml cream
200ml milk
2 egg yolks
Generous pinch of salt
25g cornstarch

For the apricots

8 apricots, stone removed and cut into quarters
1 tbsp sugar 
½ tsp anise seeds
3 tbsp water

For the pine nut brittle

50g pine nuts
50g sugar
25g butter
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp water

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan). 

Start by making the burnt honey. Prepare a saucepan with the milk and cream and set aside. Add your honey to a small saucepan and cook on high for 2-3 minutes or until it turns a dark amber (it will bubble ferociously as it cooks). Pour the burnt honey immediately into the milk and cream. The burnt honey will hiss as it hits the cold cream and milk and will harden initially but will dissolve again as you heat up the cream and milk. 

In a small bowl whisk together ca. 1/4 of the burnt honey, cream and milk mixture and the cornstarch until well amalgamated. Heat the rest of the burnt honey, cream and milk until steaming. Pour the egg yolk, cream, milk and cornstarch mixture into the steaming burnt honey cream and milk.

Stirring constantly, gently cook the burnt honey custard on medium heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon - this will likely take just a few minutes. And make sure you take the saucepan off the heat immediately to prevent the custard from overheating and curdling the egg yolks. If in doubt, you can always pass the custard through a sieve before pouring into your containers.

Divide the burnt honey custard between four glasses, bowls or ramekins (you are looking for a capacity of 150-200ml to allow enough space for both the custard as well as the apricots and brittle). Place in the fridge to firm up for at least 2 hours before serving. 

While the pots de crème are resting in the fridge, make the roasted apricots. Place the quartered apricots in a baking dish large enough to fit everything in one layer. Sprinkle with the sugar and anise seeds as well as the water and roast for 30-35 minutes or until soft. Set aside to cool down. 

Lastly, make the pine nut brittle. Line a small heatproof dish with a flat bottom with parchment paper. 

Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until light brown in colour. You will know they are ready when the pine nuts start smelling like popcorn and are developing a bit of a sheen. Keep an eye on them like a hawk though as they burn very easily! Pour the pine nuts on the parchment paper.

Add the sugar, butter, salt and water to the same saucepan and cook on medium heat until all the sugar is dissolved. Turn the heat to high and cook for a few minutes or until the caramel is a light to medium amber colour. Immediately pour the caramel over the pine nuts. Set aside to harden.

To serve, top each pot de crème with a few of the roasted apricot quarters together with a couple of teaspoons of their juices and a few shards of pine nut brittle.