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Hi Bold Bakers!
My homemade Salted Butterscotch Pot De Creme is one of my all-time favorites! This is one of those desserts that are perfect for serving after tea or a dinner party with all of your fanciest friends—it’s sophisticated.
It’s also great to see those guests eagerly scoop up every last bite like they’re a kid on the playground eating a pudding snack pack—and no one is going to blame them!
I can put into words the flavor of this “pots of cream” recipe (I’d go with: “so smooth, with almost a burnt taste from the cooked sugar, that pairs perfectly with salt and cream”), but it would never do it justice. You can also make these adorable little single-serving butterscotch pot de cremes 2 days in advance, so planning is even easier.
Are you a fan of chocolate and orange? Check out my Chocolate and Orange Pot de Créme recipe, too!
What Is Salted Butterscotch Pot de Creme?
Salted butterscotch pot de creme is a French dessert, literally meaning “pot of cream.” And while it looks a lot like American pudding, it differs because of its ingredients. American puddings typically call for a thickener, like cornstarch, while pot de cremes contain eggs and are baked until they are set.
The result is an out of this WORLD silky texture!
What You Need To Make Salted Butterscotch Pot de Creme
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Large, deep baking dish
- Medium saucepan
- Mixing bowls
- Sieve
- 4 (6oz) ramekins or mini mason jars
How Do You Make Salted Butterscotch Pot de Creme
This sophisticated dessert can be prepped in advance and tastes absolutely incredible! Here’s a super simple way to make your new favorite (and don’t forget to get the full recipe with measurements, on the page down below):
- Preheat your oven to 325°F (170°C) and set aside a large, deep baking dish. Boil water to use for a bain-marie.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Once the butter and sugar have melted, allow it to simmer for about 8-10 minutes to develop a caramel. Be sure to watch this process! You want a deep brown color, but once it gets there, caramel can smoke or burn fairly quickly.
- Lower the heat and slowly whisk in the cream and milk. Don’t be surprised. The sugar will splatter and seize up, but keep on whisking, and it will dissolve. Remove the butterscotch from the heat and add in the vanilla extract and salt. Set aside to cool.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Temper the eggs by adding a small amount of the warm butterscotch mixture to the egg yolks while constantly whisking. Once the eggs are warm to the touch, pour the eggs into the pot of butterscotch and whisk to combine.
- Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove any lumps, then divide it between 4 (6oz) ramekins or mini mason jars. At this stage, you can keep the custard up to 48 before, in the fridge, before finishing baking.
- Place the ramekins into the large baking dish from step 1. Carefully pour in some boiling water so that it reaches up to halfway on each ramekin. Be sure not to get any water into your pots.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes. Check for doneness around 30 minutes by tapping the side of each ramekin. You want it to still have a jiggle in the middle. If they are overcooked, they will become grainy.
- Remove the jars from the baking dish and place them on a cooling rack. Once they have reached room temperature, chill the pot de cremes in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving. You can enjoy them straight away or keep them in the fridge for up to 3 days at this point!
Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips For Making Salted Butterscotch Pot de Creme
- You can prepare the mixture up to 2 days before baking. After baking, you can keep the pot de creme in the refrigerator for 3 days, so it’s a perfect recipe to make ahead!
- Dark brown sugar is the key ingredient here! If you don’t have any, you can make your own brown sugar!
- The cream needed for this recipe does NOT have to be a heavy whipping cream. Any cream will do.
- Don’t skimp on the vanilla extract or the salt. These seasonings are super important to bring out the butterscotch flavor.
- Cook the pot de cremes until they are JUST set. You want that slight jiggle in the middle.
- You can use smaller ramekins, but your cook time will be less, so do keep an eye on them!
How Do You Store Salted Butterscotch Pot de Creme
After baking, salted butterscotch pot de creme can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Make Recipes!
And don’t forget to buy my Bigger Bolder Baking Cookbook!
Full (and printable) recipe below!
Try These Recipes!
Salted Butterscotch Pot De Creme Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon (1oz/28g) butter
- ½ cup (3oz/85g) dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups (12floz/340ml) single cream
- ½ cup (4floz/115ml) full fat milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 large egg yolks
Instructions
- To prepare the pots de crème: Preheat the oven to 325°F (170°C). Set a large deep baking dish aside and boil water to use for a Bain Marie.
- In a medium saucepan combine the butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Once the butter and sugar have melted let the mix simmer for roughly 8-10 minutes to develop a caramel. You want to get a deep brown color but take care not to let your caramel smoke or burn.
- Lower the heat and slowly whisk in the cream and milk. The sugar will splatter and seize up but keep on whisking and it will dissolve. Remove from the heat and add in the vanilla extract and salt. Set aside to cool.
- In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks. Temper the eggs by adding a small amount of warm butterscotch mixture to the egg yolks while constantly whisking. Once the yolks have been warmed to the touch, pour the entire mixture into the pot of butterscotch and whisk to combine.
- Pass the mix through a sieve to remove any lumps then divide between 4 (6oz). ramekins or mini mason jars. You can make the custard up to 48 hours in advance and keep it in the fridge before baking off.
- Place the ramekins into the large, deep baking dish. Carefully pour in some boiling water so that it comes up halfway in each ramekin. Take care not to get any water into your pots.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes. Check for doneness around 30 minutes by tapping the side of each ramekin. You want the mix to still have a jiggle in the middle. This means they are perfectly cooked. Be careful not to overbake or they will become grainy
- Remove them from the baking dish, and place them on a cooling rack to cool down. Once the pots de creme have reach room temperature, chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours before serving. If you don’t wish to enjoy them straight away keep them in the fridge for up to 3 days. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream on top and some crumbled honeycomb.
Hi, what is single cream ???
Don’t try to simmer the dark brown sugar for that long. Once the butter has melted, it takes about 8 minutes on medium heat for the sugar to melt. When it’s liquid, it’s ready. (I burned my dark brown sugar twice by trying to simmer it for 8 additional minutes.). His is a very tasty recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
What is “crumbled honeycomb”(surely not real honeycomb-I’m assuming it’s some sort of cookie-ish thing-and where might one get that?
My wife loves this recipe, going to visit family in California. Can this recipe be doubled?
Gemma can you dilute heavy cream with milk to do single cream – maybe 30:70 ratio?
Hi Gemma,
What should be the consistency of the butterscotch-egg yolk mixture? Do you have a similar video here that you can point me to? & what would be the best substitute for single cream? I have half and half, cream and milk but no single cream.
I love butterscotch, thanks for this recipe Gemma ????
Can this be cooked on top of the stove such as vanilla pudding?
Which egg substitute can we use ?
Hi Gemma, I made these for my hubby for Valentines and he just loved them. I easily veganized it to suit our preferences. I was tempted to leave in the oven longer when I saw them jiggle but I’m glad I didn’t; they were perfect! Thank you!
What is single cream? Can I use half and half?