Oh Pumpkin Pot de Creme! One of my very favorite desserts of all time, especially in the fall.
I’m so excited to be part of the “There’s No Place Like Home” Autumn Blog Hop hosted by my friend Rachelle at My Hubbard Home!
Whether you’ve come from Karin’s beautiful blog, or made it over on your own, I’m so happy you’re here!
This week’s Autumn theme is Favorite Recipes, so without further ado, let’s get cooking!
The Pumpkin Pot de Creme Recipe
I’m usually not very pumpkin, (except for this soup I made last year,) but this recipe is so subtle and delicious. I’ve made it for ages, and I don’t even remember now where it came from. (But if you recognize it, let me know and I’ll give credit where credit is due.)
You can make it in advance too. Then it’s so easy when you’re ready to serve. Just garnish, and you’re done!
Pumpkin Pot de Creme
Pumpkin gives a lovely color and just a little flavor to this preparation. This recipe will make about 10 to 11 servings and will take about 45 minutes to prepare.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 3/4 Cups Heavy Cream
- 1/2 Cup + 1 TBS Granulated Sugar
- 6 Large Egg Yolks
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla
- 1/2 Cup Canned Pumpkin Puree
- 5 oz Pecans
METHOD
- Toast the pecans and chop them into fine pieces and set them aside.
- Adjust the rack in the lower third of oven and set the temperature of the oven to 300 degrees F to preheat it.
- Set 11 small ungreased porcelain ramekins of about 1/2 cup capacity in a baking pan.
- Put the cream and sugar in a saucepan and heat it just until the sugar dissolves.
- Put the egg yolks, vanilla, and pumpkin puree in a bowl and whisk them together.
- Add the warm cream mixture to it and whisk.
- Place a strainer over a large bowl and pour the mixture through the strainer to strain out any cooked egg yolk particles and deflate bubbles caused from stirring.
- Pour the custard into the ramekins.
- Pour hot water into the baking pan, until it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake for 25 to 27 minutes or until the custards just set up.
- Be vigilant and do not over bake the custard.
- Transfer the ramekins to a wire rack to cool and then to the refrigerator so they get firm.
- Just before you serve, blot the surface of the chilled custard with a paper towel, and sprinkle toasted pecans over the top.
Ingredients
So here’re the ingredients, all laid out. With some lovely fall flowers too, of course! Our baking area might as well be pretty!
The First Steps
Mixing all the proper batches of ingredients together are our first steps. Here we have the cream mixture, pumpkin mixture, and the nuts toasting.
Oven has preheated, too!
The Pots for the Pumpkin Pot de Creme
This part always cracks me up for some reason. I guess it just seems funny to put empty ramekins into an empty baking dish. I know we’re going to fill them up, but in the meantime …
Mixing
I just love the soft yellow of the pumpkin when it’s mixed with the cream.
Straining
I did strain my mixture, but it was awfully difficult to get a good photo of it. We’ll just have to use our imaginations this time.
Anyway, here’s how pretty the ramekins look filled with the custard mixture.
Water Bath
A water bath is the traditional way to make pumpkin pot de creme. (Or any pot de creme, really!) I filled the baking dish with hot water to cook the eggs in the custard evenly.
I wanted to make sure the custard didn’t have any bubbles in it. After I poured it into the ramekins, I let them sit a minute. Then I poked any remaining bubbles with a toothpick. The tops ended up looking nice and smooth.
Then I VERY CAREFULLY put the whole arrangement into the oven!
The Other Side of Real Life
And now for some clean up and a little philosophical aside:
As bloggers, we’re always talking about “real life,” how messy it is, and how much we try to keep it just out of the picture, right? Well tonight when I started putting the baking things in the sink, I realized “real life” could go the other way too.
Tonight my real life is going to include washing dishes. But I have my Replica Surfaces panels set up, with flowers on them. And lots of extra flowers on the counter too. Because of that, I get something beautiful to look at while I’m washing.
Rather than taking the dishes out of the flower picture, I’m putting the flowers into the dishes picture! A slightly backwards, but more fun, way to think of real life.
When Is the Pumpkin Pot de Creme Done?
So now that my dishes and meditative moment are finished, it’s time to check the pumpkin pot de creme!
The trickiest part is to cook it just the right amount. Not too little, not too much. Recipe writers, like ours above, are always warning us not to overcook. But if you undercook, that’s not good either. Sometimes they just won’t set up.
Jiggle, Wiggle, and Ripple
I try to cook mine enough so that when I jiggle them, only the middle really wiggles. Wiggles, not ripples. If it ripples, or the outsides wiggle, I haven’t cooked them long enough.
I read recently that you can also use an instant thermometer. When it reads 150 – 155 degrees, you can take your pumpkin pot de creme out of the oven.
And here they are.
I just love the beautiful creamy smoothness!
Garnish
Then I sprinkled some of the toasted pecans on the tops. I love the contrast of the creamy pumpkin pot de creme and the crunchy nuts.
Garnish your plates as well, and you have a lovely little dessert. It’ll look great at your dinner table, and taste fabulous too!
A perfect bit of fall sweetness to end your meal!
Oops – mine didn’t last long enough to make it to the table!
But Mmmmmmmmmmm! SO worth it!
I hope you liked the pumpkin pot de creme recipe. Keep going all the way to the bottom to find the links to the other bloggers’ favorite fall recipes too!
Shop the Pumpkin Pot de Creme Post
Click on the pictures for links to pieces I used in this post. If the exact item isn’t available any more, I chose a similar option.
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Pin the Pumpkin Pot de Creme For Later
Keep On Hopping
Ready to keep going? Next on “There’s No Place Like Home” Autumn Blog Hop is the lovely Paula at Virginia Sweet Pea. Click on over and see her favorite fall recipe!
Here are all this week’s hop participants
My Humble Home and Garden / Thistle Key Lane / My Hubbard Home / Karins Kottage / Mantel and Table (you are here!) / Virginia Sweet Pea / First Day of Home / Blue Sky At Home / Calypso in the Country/ My Family Thyme / The Painted Apron
Stop by again next week for the great fall and holiday shopping Autumn Blog Hop installment!
Take care till then!
This Post Shared With
- Charming Homes & Gardens #24 – Hosted by Shiplap and Shells
- Centerpiece Wednesday 09.16.20 – Hosted by Karin’s Kottage
- Thursday Favorite Things #457 – Hosted by Follow the Yellow Brick Home
- Metamorphosis Monday #608 – Hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
- Tuesday Turn About #67 – Hosted by Thistle Key Lane
- Everything Fall 2020 – Hosted by Shoestring Elegance
- Metamorphosis Monday 09.12.22 – Hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
- Thursday Favorite Things 10.20.22 – Hosted by Electric Red Barn
- Metamorphosis Monday 10.16.23 – Hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
Oh Barbara – I love anything pumpkin and this sounds and looks absolutely delicious! I’m not even going to ask about the calories, and will just pin it instead. Thanks for sharing!
Haha – that’s why we make them so small! 🤣 It really is fabulous! Let me know what you think. 💛
Barbara! This looks divine. I can’t wait to give it a try!
So glad you like it Leslie – it’s really yummy! 🙂
This recipe looks perfect for fall! My family and I love all things pumpkin and I know we will all enjoy this! Pinned!
Thanks so much Lynne! Let me know how long it takes your family to devour them! 🙂 Hope you have a lovely week!
Barbara, these look delicious! I have a collection of pots de cremes but I’ve never made pumpkin! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Love your dishwashing photos too!
Ha! Well I always have plenty of dishes to photograph! 😉 I’d love to try some of your pots de creme recipes too – they’re so good with every flavor!
Oh Barbara this recipe looks so yummy! Thanks for sharing! Happy Fall!
Happy Fall to you too! We’ll have to have a dessert fest when we ever meet up! 🙂
Love this idea, Barb! Will definitely be trying this recipe. Your photos are beautiful.
Thanks so much Debra! It’s so delicious – I bet you’ll love it! 🙂
YUM!!
I love custardy desserts, and this one looks like it would surely satisfy!
Bet shaving freshly ground nutmeg on top would be good – and a pretty and tasty alternative for anyone who is sadly allergic to nuts? (Not me, but I am a huge fanof nutmeg, haha.) Or a dollop of freshly whipped cream and then nutmeg on that.
Thanks for this fabulous recipe – def going to try it. it is so weird not to be having my annual autumn tea party planned this year. /sad face
Oooooh ground nutmeg would be fabulous Michele – I love those fall spices. I think I’m going to try your second suggestion – you can never go wrong with whipped cream! 😉
An Autumn tea party sounds wonderful! Maybe next year, and you can bake tea cakes in the meantime! 🙂 Thanks so much for popping over, and have a great weekend!
This looks divine Barbara, and I love all things pumpkin. I can’t wait to try this wonderful recipe. Thanks so much for sharing.
Hi! If you really love the pumpkin flavor, you might want to add a tiny bit more pumpkin puree, or put some pumpkin pie spice in. The flavor is really subtle. Let me know what you think if you try it – I’d love to hear how you did it! 😉
My mouth was watering with every pic so you can bet I’m going to be trying this lovely pumpkin cream desert out on the family sometime soon!
Oooh bet they’ll love it! Happy baking! Hope you have a wonderful – and tasty – weekend! 😉
Oh, Barbara! This is my kind of dessert! I love pot de creme, and I love pumpkin. What a lovely presentation you have, too. Aren’t those recipes that you’ve had for ages just the best kind? Happy to be hopping with you again!
Hi Crissy! I’m so glad you like them – they’re so much fun – and yummy! 🙂 Happy hopping with you too! Take care and hope you have a lovely weekend!
Barbara! I think I will make this a new Thanksgiving tradition! Holy Cow this sounds absolutely delicious! Like heaven in a ramekin 🙂 I have never thought about using pumpkin for Pot de creme but I will know! So fun to be in this blog hop with you!
Hugs,
Karin
This would be fabulous at Thanksgiving Karin – I may have to do that now too! 😉 Thanks so much for stopping over, the hop has been so much fun! Enjoy your weekend and see you next time!
Barbara, we love pumpkin ~ from appetizers to desserts. I have dozens. I love the idea of adding pumpkin to pots de creme. Very good instructions too. I usually put my custards in the baking dish, set it on the oven rack and then pour in the hot water. That way you don’t have to carry the dish to the oven. Just a tip. Definitely Pinning.
What a great idea Carol! Pouring in the water after the dish is in the oven will certainly save a lot of water from ending up on the floor! 😉 Hope you’re having a lovely week!
Hi Barbara, I can’t wait to try your recipe. This may become a favorite fall recipe because I love pumpkin everything! Pinning!
Excellent! Let me know what you think if you try it – I love experimenting with different toppings. 🙂 Take care over there!
I love desserts that are a single serving, probably because if I serve myself, I’m going to eat more than a single serving. Your dessert sounds so good and who doesn’t like a pumpkin dessert in the fall?
Hi Paula! Ha – yes I might be tempted to eat more than one, too! Well, ok, I DID eat more than one. But hey, they’re small! 😉 Thanks so much for stopping by. It was great hopping with you!
I love small servings of dessert like these Pot de Creme, they feel guilt free!! Sounds like aperfect fall treat, and pecans on top make it even better! I love your flower display to enjoy while you wash dishes 😂
Hi Jenna! Yes, we must have flowers! 😉 And the small serving size is definitely a plus – especially if you just happen to eat more than one!
I’m sending safe energy down to you my friend – you’ll be in my thoughts! ♥
This looks like such a perfect recipe for fall! I love anything and everything pumpkin so I’m definitely adding this to my recipe file. Thanks for sharing and great hopping with you!
Shelley
Hi Shelley – it IS perfect for fall, and I have been known to make it other times of the year too. The pumpkin is so subtle that it doesn’t overpower the taste at all. I’ve even put raspberries on top for a summery-er flavor. Let me know how you like it, and thanks so much for stopping by! So fun hopping with you too!
Barbara, these little desserts would be wonderful to serve at a family gathering. Everyone would be so impressed!
I’ve never made pot de creme, but have made custard pie. They are similar in ingredients.I just need to remember to have them wiggle, not ripple 🙂
Thanks for joining along and adding such a beautiful dessert to the hop.
Hugs,
Rachelle
Ha – yes wiggling is the key! 😉 Thanks so much for having me along on this wonderful hop – I’m having so much fun and getting so much great fall cooking inspiration! Take care and Happy Fall! ♥