Chai Pots de Creme - by Lisa

This was one of the recipes I'd put off picking for a long time because of the ingredient calling for chai. But finally when I gave the recipe a closer look, I noticed Beth suggested you could substitute another tea, like jasmine. Since chai and I don't get along so well anymore, I jumped on the chance to swap out for the jasmine as that also happens to be one of my favorite teas! This recipe was really quite simple to assemble and had a surprisingly small list of ingredients. The only extra item I needed was the half 'n' half. While the half 'n' half and tea infused on the stove, I whisked together the egg yolks, sugar and salt. Everything got mixed together, and then strained to remove the foam. I didn't have much luck removing the foam this way, so I pulled out my slotted spoon and that did the trick.

Then I poured the mixture into their ramekins, poured in the water for the water bath and carefully moved it into the oven.

And here is where things went kinda wrong. I started the timer at 23 min since my oven tends to good things a little faster. They definitely were not ready that soon. I set another 5 on the timer and no dice. This process went on until the one hour mark. The recipe says they should be done at around 25-30 min. I triple checked my oven temps, and it was all correct. I have no idea what the problem was and was getting frustrated by being held hostage in the kitchen. I was relived to finally pull them out and let them cool.

After letting them chill overnight in the fridge, I tried one out this afternoon. The texture was nice and creamy (tho mine had a little skin on it since I didn't press the plastic wrap all the way down), tho I was disappointed that I couldn't really detect the jasmine flavor. It was still a nice flavor - I could definitely appreciate the sugar and half 'n' half, but it wasn't anything to get me terribly excited. Between the cooking time and lack of extra flavor, I don't think I'll try making these again.