It ain’t Ramadan if there isn’t a dallah of Arabic coffee and a bowl of Sukkary dates within arms’ reach from dusk till dawn- at least in my (and quite possibly every Saudi’s) world. This Eid, I wanted to make a rich, decadent, chocolatey dessert that was elegant enough to be served on Eid while elevating and showcasing my prized stash of Valrhona Caraibe 66% Dark Chocolate Feves.

My first instinct was to make Arabic coffee, dark chocolate and tahini cookies, but not only did that experiment fail miserably (I couldn’t get those elusive rippled every Keiffer-lover aspires for), I also decided cookies aren’t elegant enough for Eid. Some mulling and rustling through the fridge to see what ingredients I had on hand gave me the brainwave of using traditional Gahwa cups to serve pots de creme in.

What is the difference between pots de creme and mousse, you might ask? Put simply, pot de creme is a cooked custard with egg yolks and heavy cream, whereas mousse is lighter, and has whipped cream and beaten egg whites instead. The former ends up tasting richer, heavier and more decadent to me, which is exactly what I wanted as I wanted to service it in tiny Gahwa Cups.

What is Gahwa Arabi or Arabic Coffee, you might ask? It is coffee made from very lightly roasted green coffee beans. Popular all over the Gulf, it varies a little bit from region to region, especially in its intensity of cardamoms and cloves. My favorite is the Hijazi blend popular in Jeddah, which is greener in color, heavier on the cardamom and lightest on the cloves. The ratio of coffee to cardamom is often 2:1, that’s how cardamom heavy Hijazi Arabic Coffee is! Gahwa Arabi is always drank in little Gahwa cups, and there is always a ‘Dallah’ on hand for refills all evening. It is common hospitality for one of the younger member’s of a gathering to go around the room with a stack of cups in one hand, and a Dallah (vacuum flask or tea pot with a long spout) to pour coffee from in the other, offering Gahwa and refills of Gahwa to the guests.

Here’s the super easy recipe for the Gahwa Arabi / Arabic Coffee Flavored Pots De Creme

Yield: 12 Arabic Coffee / Espresso Cups

Ingredients:
– 255 grams of chocolate. It’s best to use a good, dark chocolate for this as the chocolate will be the main focus. The best would be 50-70% Dark Chocolate because any darker will become even less sweet when diluted with cream. I’d recommend Valrhona 66% Caraibe.
– 1.5 cups whole milk
– 1.5 cups heavy cream
– 6 egg yolks
– 1/4 tsp kosher salt (don’t use fine table salt)
– 5 tbs granulated sugar
– 1 tsp cardamom powder, in a tightly sealed teabag
– 1 tsp instant coffee (or you can reduce the whole milk by 2 tablespoons and add 2 tablespoons of strong espresso instead)
– 1/2 cup whipped cream for garnish
– Some extra chocolate for garnish

Method:
1. Roughly chop up the 255 grams of chocolate and place in a blender.
2. In a saucepan over low-medium heat, min the heavy cream, whole milk, coffee, salt, sugar, teabag containing cardamom powder and egg yolks with a spatula and keep stirring until the mixture appears to thicken even so slightly, around 5-6 minutes. It should reach a consistency where it sticks to the spatula. Make sure not to overcook it or you’ll end up with scrambled eggs!
3. Remove the teabag containing cardamom powder, and pour this mixture into the blender. Make sure you’re quick, as the eggs will continue to cook as long as they’re in the hot saucepan.
4. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy, it’ll only take a couple of minutes.
5. Portion out into your Arabic coffee or espresso cups. It’s a rich, decadent dessert so the serving size shouldn’t be very big.
6.  Refrigerate for a few hours before serving. Can be made a day ahead.
7. Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream, and grate some chocolate on top before serving, and let it rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes before digging in.

Another Saudi recipe you might like is the Oats Shorba.