This Peanut Butter Pot de Crème Is the Ultimate Make-Ahead Dessert

What to cook when you don’t feel like making dessert? These little pots of delicious pudding. They require less than ten minutes of initial effort—after that, they just hang out in the fridge for a few hours until it’s time to eat. Your diners will think you whisked chocolate over a double boiler for hours, when really you just gave a bunch of deliciousness a quick whirl in the blender. —Caroline Chambers, excerpted from her new book, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking

Note: For a holiday riff, convert this recipe to a mint chocolate pot de crème by omitting the peanut butter and adding ½ teaspoon peppermint extract—then, sprinkle crushed candy canes on top.

For tips on holiday hosting, read our Q&A with Chambers here.

Ingredients

Peanut Butter Pots de Crème (Yield: 6 servings)

1½ cups (8 oz.) semisweet or dark chocolate chips
2 tbsp. peanut butter
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Pinch kosher salt
⅔ cup milk of your choice (I love using oat milk)
1 tbsp. sugar (optional)
5 oz. store-bought whipped cream

Preparation

In a blender, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Blend on high speed until coarsely combined, about 30 seconds.

Microwave the milk in a microwave-safe mug or bowl in 20-second intervals until very, very hot to the touch. Pour the hot milk into the blender with the chocolate mixture and blend until smooth.

Taste. Do you want it to be sweeter? If so, blend in up to 1 tbsp. sugar.

Pour the mixture into six small bowls/ramekins/teacups and refrigerate for at least 1 hour for a pudding-y consistency or up to 4 hours for a more firm ganache-y consistency.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Notes: Don’t stress about the raw eggs here—blending them with the hot liquid makes them safe for consumption! If you want to use milk chocolate, reduce the amount of milk to ⅓ cup. Milk chocolate actually has…milk in it! The mixture will be too liquidy unless you reduce the milk.

Riff: Make a mint chocolate pot de crème by omitting the peanut butter and adding ½ teaspoon peppermint extract. Sprinkle crushed candy canes on top.