8ozfinely chopped good quality chocolateI used one 4-oz bar of Ghiardelli dark chocolate and one 4-oz bar of Ghiardelli semi-sweet chocolate - you may need to adjust amount of sugar depending on the chocolate you use
1/4cupheavy cream for whipping
Instructions
In a small saucepan, heat cream until very hot but not boiling.
Remove from heat and stir in Chinese Five Spice powder; steep for 10 minutes.
Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a separate bowl.
Pour infused cream through a fine mesh sieve into a 2-cup measuring cup. This takes some coaxing - you may have to scrape the sieve with a spoon to get the cream to go through, and I discarded the spice-cream sludge that remains in the sieve a couple times throughout the process so I could rinse the sieve. All in all, I lost about 1/4 cup of spice-sludge. Replace the lost quantity with 1/4 cup of half-and-half and whisk to combine.
Slowly pour cream mixture into egg yolk mixture, whisking as you go.
Rinse out your saucepan and pour the egg yolk-cream mixture back in. Heat over medium, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Place finely chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour hot custard over the chocolate and let stand for about 4 minutes to melt the chocolate. Gently stir to combine. Alternately, put chocolate and hot custard in a blender until smooth.
Pour mixture into 2-4 oz bowls or decorative cups. Tap the sides to even out the top of the custard and get out any air bubbles, and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.
Whip remaining 1/4 cup cream.
Before serving, top pots de creme with homemade whipped cream and sprinkle with 5-spice powder for garnish.
Notes
Depending on the size of your bowls, it will make a different number of finished desserts. I made three 4-oz bowls and four 2-oz teacups full.