St Valentine's Day Chocolate Pots

Seriously perfect chocolate pots to make for St Valentine's Day

4oz/125g the best quality/organic 70%+ dark chocolate you can buy

1 large, organic egg yolk

1/4 pint/150mls organic double cream

Have six espresso cups lined up ready........

Put the egg yolk into a mixing bowl with a pouring lip and fork lightly

Break up the chocolate smallish into pieces and lay them on a flexible board or sheet of paper

Heat the cream in a small saucepan to just boiling point and immediately pour over the cream egg yolk, beating with a wire-whisk then quickly throw in the chocolate pieces and beat/stir until melted and smooth.  Add a small slug of alcohol (brandy or fruit liqueur) if you want to but I like the pure unadulterated version.

Pour evenly into the pots - scraping every last drop with a silicon spatula.  Chill for a couple of hours in the fridge.  They also freeze excellently so I always make a batch when I've yolks to use up after cooking meringues!  Always remove from fridge about half an hour before serving - way too cold straight from the fridge!

The very first time I made these pots I honestly thought that the amount would be too little for six servings so I doubled it up and poured it into six ramekins.  Absolutely no one, not even the hardiest of chocoholics could finish a whole pot so my greed won the better of me and I lost!  Since then I've always used espresso cups and tiny glasses until I found these cute, heart-shaped cups which seem just perfect.

In this photograph I've served them with blobs of home-made mint and vanilla ice-cream for a change!