Milk Chocolate Cream with Milk Cloud

When I was little, before I ever visited any foreign country, I remember being fascinated by eating habits and foods I would see in foreign films. I remember wanting to try English tea the first time I went to Dublin when I was 11. I later learned they were not very fond of the English so they didn’t like it when I called it “English” tea. I remember wanting fast food hamburgers the first time I went to Sterling Heights, Michigan. I was fascinated with food.

I remember watching two British shows called “Upstairs, Downstairs” and “The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin” (anyone remembers?). They showed soft boiled eggs served in the eggshell and I thought that was the strangest thing I had ever seen. “They are eating raw eggs for breakfast? How brave!”. That topped eggshell has stuck in my brain.

When I thought of making something inside the eggshell, I thought of baking milk chocolate custard, like a pot de crème. However, after thinking about it, I thought that once refrigerated, it might be too stiff to eat and it might crack the eggshell in the process. I’m not sure. I should just try it just for the sake of it. This time, I made a cream and filled the empty eggshells with it. I was going to buy an egg topper but when I went to Sur La Table, I found that a good one costs almost $60!! Not today… So I just did it with a paring knife and lots of patience. It was ok topping 4 but I’m not sure if I’d do it if I had to top a dozen or more. Too much work!

Prepare the Eggshells

Tap the top of the eggshell with a paring knife and slowly break off small pieces of the shell with your nails. Empty the egg into a bowl and reserve for next time. If you can separate the yolks from the whites in this process, use the one yolk for this recipe.

I used organic eggs so I am not worried about salmonella but if you are, you might just want to avoid using the eggshells all together. I suppose they can be sterilized but I’m not sure how.

Milk Chocolate Cream

Makes enough for 8 eggshells

100 grams half and half
10 grams sugar
1 organic egg yolk
200 grams milk chocolate
175 grams heavy cream, whipped to soft peak

In a saucepan, bring the half and half and the sugar to a boil. Temper into the egg yolk. Return this mixture to the saucepan and cook for a minute. Strain the custard and pour it over the chopped milk chocolate. Whisk until all the chocolate is melted. When this mixture cools a little bit (cool to the touch), fold in the whipped heavy cream. Pour into the eggshells and refrigerate until it sets.

Milk Cloud

Heat some whole milk in a saucepan. Submerge a hand-held mixer in the milk and mix it until foam starts to form on top. Take small spoonfuls of the foam and place on top of the eggshell. Serve right away.

The milk foam looked a little deflated… I don’t know that I am very happy with the result. I liked the idea of the foam with the eggshell. I was picturing cotton candy.. Maybe I should have made cotton candy now that I think of it!