This no-bake pot de crème is where custard meets pumpkin for an easy-to-make fall dessert. Simple in design and in flavor, this uncomplicated dessert may surprise you with its ability to leave you reaching for seconds.
As many of you know I spent this past weekend in Philadelphia eating and drinking my way through the city with some other bloggers. Along with discovering great eats and drinks, I also discovered—crap, I’m old. Not only could I not keep up with the 2AM pub crawl, but when I got home on Sunday night I couldn’t find the energy to post.
I was down and down for the count yesterday as well, so my apologies for the few missed postings. Although stay tuned, tomorrow I’m excited to be posting a delicious and adorable mini crepe cake.
A few notes:
- Use room temperature eggs to prevent curdling.
- This dessert can be served warm or chilled.
- Variation: Add 4-6 tablespoons of bourbon to the pot de crème at the end for a boozy dessert.
- If you can, use homemade caramel sauce as it has a deeper flavor and avoids the overly sweet flavoring found in commercial caramel sauce.
Caramel Pumpkin Pot de Crème
Serves 6-8 people
Ingredients:
Pot de Creme:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 5 large egg yolks
- ¼ cup plus sugar
- Pinch of salt
- ½ cup plus two tablespoons of pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup homemade caramel sauce (recipe follows)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Homemade Caramel Sauce:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons water
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 10 tablespoons of heavy cream
- ½ teaspoons of kosher salt
Directions:
Pot de Creme:
- In a medium saucepan, bring heavy cream and sugar to a boil, whisking constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Put aside and let cool for five minutes.
- In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Add ¼ cup of heated cream mixture to egg mixture and whisk to combine. Continue adding cream mixture in ¼ cup increments to eggs until the two are fully combined. Place fully combined mixture back in to a pot and cook over moderate heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the custard coats the back of the spoon, about 4 minutes. Add in pumpkin puree, caramel sauce, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla and stir to combine. Transfer the mixture to a blender and puree until very smooth, about 1 minute. Pour the finished custard through a strainer.
- Refrigerate until chilled about 2 hours.
- To serve warm: Let the pots de crème stand at room temperature for 15-20 minutes prior to serving.
Homemade Caramel Sauce:
1. Add sugar and water into a saucepan over medium low heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Use a wet brush to remove any crystals that form on the side. Once sugar has dissolved increase heat to high. Now and then, using the handle give the pot a swirl to keep the mixture moving. Do not stir the mixture directly. The mixture will start to bubble after a minute. As the mixture darkens to a deep amber color, approximately 5-7 minutes, add the butter and cream to saucepan. The mixture will bubble wildly. Whisk to combine (bubbles will subside upon cooling). Add salt and stir to combine.
Welcome to my cozy corner where baking meets random thoughts and musings. I’m a self-taught baker sharing all things sweet (and some savory—okay, and cocktails) with a whisk in one hand and a camera in the other. 
I’m loving the simplicity of this recipe.
Oh yes yes yes please!! Definitely giving this one a whirl stat!
I bet this would be a big hit around Thanksgiving
And I so wish I could go prop shopping with you. You’ve always got the best items to showcase your treats!!
Those look so beautiful! I love all these pumpkin recipes!
Wow, those look SO good! I love that you don’t have to bake it either. When I’m cooking for a holiday dinner it seems like there are always too many things that need time in the oven, so having a dessert that can be cooked on the stove is great.
Oh my goodness, these sound incredible. The homemade caramel really puts it over the top, love it.
I love all your simple recipes. I especially love all these no-bake treats you come up with.
Pumpkin is one of my favorite flavors and I’ve never had in a pot de creme, so I can’t wait to try this.
Where did you get that beautiful platter/bowl?
MMMM! Love the tip on the bourbon. The flavor it will impart to the pumpkin and caramel will be diviiiine! and so fall-appropriate!
I’ll take one of those big pots in the photo.
I love that platter! Really nice color palette here.
Absolutley stunning, Naomi!
Yum, these look so good! I love that platter and the spoons!!
This looks SO good. I’ve been looking for pumpkin recipes to make this autumn/Halloween and this looks absolutely perfect – something a bit different from all those pumpkin pies and pumpkin frosted brownies!
These look delish. I love anything I can make that doesn’t require the oven on Thanksgiving day.
Sounds perfect!
omg, amazing! best part, it’s gluten-free so I can eat this!
Wow. That looks great. I love the platter, the colors and the recipe!
What did you use to garnish the tops?
Naomi replied: — October 6th, 2011 @ 3:26 am
Becca-The topping is whipped cream with pumpkin puree folded in.
Your recipy sound very good – we will work on it at the comming sunday. But the way you serving!!!!! Beautiful!!!
Thank you!
This looks fantastic!
Another winner! It just got added to my Thanksgiving list!
These beauties look to die for! Wish I would sink into one right now.
These are gorgeous and sound so so good! Love the styling, Naomi!
Made these last night and they still haven’t set up after 18 hours. If I tilt the ramekin any direction the creme anglaise will pour out the side. They are thicker than when they came through the strainer but now the texture of a very heavy cream. My past experience with pots de creme has always been with some form of chocolate which alone can cause yhe final texture to be somewhere between a pudding and a ganache. So I’m not entirely sure what texture it is supposed to have without any chocolate. Cooked the custard to between 175 and 180 degrees (per an old Cook’s Illustrated trick) so it feels like the custard should have set. I have triple xhecked your recipe and I did everything exactly the same. Any hints on what might have gone wrong? Live in OKC area so altitude wasn’t an issue. Thank you so mich! BTW they taste fabulous!
Jane replied: — October 13th, 2013 @ 3:59 pm
I also tried making them and mine didn’t set either…so then I baked them in the oven in a water bath for 30 min at 320 degrees F and they finally set. Luckily I had poured them into oven-proof dishes when I made them.
boo louis replied: — November 25th, 2013 @ 12:16 pm
hi jane. i may make these for thxgiving. how were they??!! any tips? thank you!
This looks great! Hoping to make them for Thanksgiving. How many days can they be refrigerated? Will I need to put a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the custard so a skin doesn’t form?
Also wondering how far in advance these can be made!
Wondering if the recipe will still work with Splenda rather than sugar and half-and-half instead of heavy cream?
Just finished making them about an hour ago, guess I’ll figure out if I did them right tomorrowish. I did double the recipe so might come out not 100% correct, lets hope they will set right
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