Ingredients

Dough
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 1/3 cups flour
1 eggs plus 1 yolk
1/2 cup + 1 T sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Filling
3 1/2 ounces bittersweet baking chocolate (or chips)
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
3 eggs
1/2 cup minus 1 T sugar
Berry jam
3 pears

Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Dough
Place flour, softened butter, egg and yolk, sugar and cocoa powder into bowl and mix well.
Wrap in plastic and place in refrigerator.

Filling

Ingredients

3 Cups Whole Milk
1 Vanilla Bean
5 Ounces Bittersweet Chocolate
3/4 Cup Sugar mixed with 4t water
7 Egg Yolks
Macadamia Churros

Preparation

Boil milk with the vanilla bean, then set aside to cool. Chop the chocolate in to chunks. Combine with sugar and water in a pan and melt. When melted, combine with milk. Beat the egg yolks lightly and then add the chocolate mixture. Mix well. Pour the custard in to 4 ramekins, place ramekins in water bath and bake in a 300-degree oven for 45 minutes.

Serve at room temperature with macadamia churro.

Dennis and I did some recipe testing tonight, trying out our ideas for fish cakes, seafood stew and "pots de creme" (pronounced po du krem in French), or as I like to call them, chocolate pots of cream! :-) Maybe pots of chocolate cream would be more accurate... At any rate, I haven't tasted the dessert yet- they get baked in the oven for a while, then need to cool and be chilled since they're served cold, so I'm just banking on the fact that Dennis has saved me a pot or two. Cross your fingers!

Ingredients

Topping
1 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal (old-fashioned, not quick cooking)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 t of salt
8 T butter (one stick, unsalted, diced)

Filling
1 T sugar
1 T flour
5 large pears
9 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli 60% cacao)

Preparation

• Mix ingredients (except pears) with your hands until it starts to form a dough that clumps, but still falls apart.
• Peel pears, remove cores, and dice. Mix with sugar, flour, and chocolate chips.