Chocolate Crème Anglaise with Frangelico

Chocolate Crème Anglaise with Frangelico is a rich chocolate dessert sauce that's creamy and full of the delicious flavor of hazelnuts. Drizzle it over ice cream, layer it in a cake, roll it into a crepe, or maybe even grab a straw.

Chocolate Crème Anglaise with Frangelico is inspired from a traditional French dessert sauce.

It can be drizzled over a multitude of desserts to dress them up and bring them to the next level.

This dessert sauce will transform an already intensely divine chocolate dessert into a chocolate lover's dream. And it'll transform any dessert into something quite magical.

Easy to make, great to have on hand and utterly delicious!

Above: Vanilla beans and their pod are steeped into the milk/cream as the base of this sauce.

What is Crème Anglaise?

• Crème Anglaise, which is French for English cream, is a classic dessert sauce that's essentially a thin, pourable, smooth, rich vanilla custard.
• Crème Anglaise is traditionally vanilla, but it can be varied by adding a variety of flavors to the finished sauce.

How to Make it

- Scald the milk and cream with vanilla beans and their pod.

- Mix egg yolks with sugar until the mixture is thick, creamy and lighter in color. You'll know when you've mixed it long enough when it reaches the "ribbon stage." This is when you drizzle it and it rests for a few seconds on top before sinking in. (See below image.) 

Above: The ribbon stage of mixing egg yolks and sugar.

- Temper the milk mixture with the egg mixture. What is tempering? Tempering is to bring two liquids that will be blended together to a similar temperature before combining them completely. In this recipe we add about half of the hot milk mixture to the eggs and blend before we add it to the remaining milk mixture in the pot.

- Stirring almost constantly, bring the mixture to a strong simmer and cook until it's a thin custard.

- Add the chocolate, strain and then finish it with the Frangelico.

(More detailed instructions are below.)

Uses for Chocolate Crème Anglaise

• The sauce is fantastic served with fruit -- especially strawberries. 
• It's welcomed into layers of all sorts of cakes.
• You can have it for breakfast or brunch spread into crepes.
• And of course you'll want to drizzle it over your ice cream!

Recipe Tips and Substitutions

• It's important to mix the egg yolks and sugar long enough so the sauce will be rich and creamy.
• Be sure to stir fairly constantly when you're cooking the milk mixture with the egg mixture. Otherwise, you might end up scrambling the eggs.
• Straining the sauce is really up to you. It will be slightly more refined if you do.
• If you'd like vanilla crème angalise, simply leave out the chocolate and Frangelico.
• Don't want the hazelnut flavor or alcohol? Omit the Frangelico.
• You can change this up in all sorts of ways. . . sometimes I like using a tablespoon of instant espresso powder instead of the Frangelico for a delicious mocha flavor.
• Other liqueurs are also delicious in this recipe. If you love orange and chocolate, try Grand Marnier. Prefer chocolate and raspberry? Try Chambord.

Can you make it ahead?

• You can make this up to about three days ahead of time, keeping it stored in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. Bring it to room temperature, or warm just slightly to serve.
• I do not recommend freezing the sauce.

I hope you love this Chocolate Crème Anglaise with Frangelico as much as I do!

Chocolate Crème Anglaise with Frangelico

Valentina K. Wein

Chocolate Crème Anglaise with Frangelico is rich dessert sauce that's creamy and full of the delicious flavor of hazelnuts. Drizzle it over ice cream, layer it in a cake, dip a cookie in it, or maybe even grab a straw.

*Makes about 3½ cups / serving size: a little more than 2 tablespoons

5 from 1 vote

Print

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 minutes mins

Total Time 23 minutes mins

Course Dessert, Condiments

Cuisine French

Servings 20

Calories 160 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 large vanilla bean
• 4 large egg yolks
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 5 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate (about ⅔ cup)
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons Frangelico

Instructions

 

• Scald the milk with the cream and vanilla. Pour the milk and cream into a medium-sized pot. Then use a paring knife to slice open the vanilla bean vertically. With the back of the knife, scrape the vanilla into the pot and add the emptied pod as well. Over medium heat, scald this mixture. Tiny bubbles will appear on the edges of the pot and it should be very hot, but not boiling. Remove the pot from the stove.
• Mix the eggs with the sugar. In a medium sized mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to whip the egg yolks with the sugar. Mix until it's very thick and pale yellow. When you drizzle it with a spoon it should rest for a second or two before sinking back into the rest of the mixture -- this is called the ribbon stage.
• Temper and then cook the milk and cream mixtures. Use a ladle to add about half of the hot milk mixture to the eggs and blend with a whisk -- this is called tempering. Now you can add this to the remaining milk mixture in the pot. Stirring almost constantly with a wooden spoon, over medium-low heat, bring it to a strong simmer, about 4 minutes.
• Add the chocolate and Frangelico. Turn the heat to the lowest setting, and gently stir in the chocolate, mixing until it's completely melted. Remove from the heat and strain the sauce. (Strain only if desired.) Then stir in the Frangelico.
• Bring to room temperature or chill before using.

NOTES

Serving size and calorie count are only estimates.

NUTRITION

Calories: 160kcal

Keywords dessert sauces, chocolate recipes

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