Chai Pots de Creme - by Summer

I'm not going to lie, I was not excited about making these.  I don't even know why . . . I think the name just scared me off or something.  And I usually like some crust/cake/carbs in my desserts, so I wasn't too sure about this custard stuff.  And I am not a tea drinker, much less a Chai tea drinker, so that was another thing.  But when I was reading over the recipe, Beth said you could substitute another kind of tea or even espresso powder for the Chai.  And just like that it suddenly sounded a bit better!

This only required a few ingredients - some half-n-half, egg yolks, sugar, espresso powder and a hint of salt.  They were super easy to prepare - heat the half-n-half, whisk into egg yolks and sugar, bake in a water bath, then chill.  One step that I should have eliminated was straining the mixture before baking.  It didn't occur to me the point of the step until I was doing it (to strain out the tea - hey - I'm sleep deprived - give me a break!) But it didn't harm anything - it just ended up being an unnecessary step.  Mine baked for about 31 minutes and quite honestly they could have baked a little bit longer even.

My husband tried one first and he really liked it a lot.  In fact he ate it up quickly, so I was eager to try some too.  When I finally got around to tasty it, I was in love!  I would say it's almost my favorite thing we have made so far - it was that good!  I loved the flavor and it was so smooth and creamy.  We each had ours with some whipped cream, but I could eat it plain too!  I will DEFINITELY be making this again and again!