Make Crème Caramel
Crème caramel is an elegant desert of custard topped with caramel sauce; the custard is baked in a mold (ramekin) lined with caramel, refrigerated for a period, and then inverted onto a plate for serving so that the caramel becomes the topping/sauce. Crème caramel is similar to flan.
Contents
Ingredients
- 2 cups of heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 cup of full fat milk
- 1 cup of white sugar, and another 1/2 cup for the caramel sauce
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 whole eggs (or egg substitute)
- A pinch of salt
Steps
Prepare the Custard
- Preheat the oven to {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}.
- Heat the heavy cream and milk in a saucepan on medium heat until you see small bubbles on the sides of the pan.
- Whisk 1/2 a cup of the sugar, egg yolks and eggs together in a medium bowl.
- Whisk the hot cream and milk into the sugar and egg mixture.
- Gradually add the hot milk and cream to the egg and sugar mixture. Stir in the salt and vanilla extract.
- Alternate method: Pass the mixture through a sieve and into a measuring cup, then stir in the salt and vanilla extract.
Prepare the Caramel
- Place 6-oz ramekins in a deep baking dish and keep to one side.
- Pour 1/2 cup sugar into a clean saucepan.
- Add enough water to dissolve the sugar, and put the pot over high heat. Stir for one minute.
- Mix the caramel around to ensure it caramelizes evenly. As the water evaporates, the water will boil more furiously, and that's when it begins to caramelize.
- Pour the caramel into the ramekins you prepared earlier; do this when you see the caramel has turned dark brown.
- Divide the mixture so that the bottom of each ramekin is covered with an even thin coat of the caramel.
Make the Crème Caramel
- Pour the custard into the caramel-bottomed ramekins, and fill the baking dish with water so that the bottom halves of the ramekins are under water.
- You may cover the dish with foil for only 15-20 minutes and then remove the foil. Leaving it on longer may cause the cream in the ramekins to get watery rather than the correct texture of a nice pudding.
- Bake until the custard is set, which should take around 20 to 45 minutes.
- Let the custards cool down in the water bath. After they've cooled down, remove the ramekins from the baking dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.
- After the custard has been refrigerated, run a knife around the edge of each ramekin and invert the custard onto a nice plate, making sure you get all of the caramel out.
- Served.
Tips
- Replacing the whole eggs (3) with egg substitute is a good idea, especially if you suffer from high cholesterol.
- You might try sprinkling coffee powder or coconut on the finished product, to give the desert an edge.
- The time it takes for the custard to set depends on how thick/deep your ramekins and baking dish are.
- For an "adults only" version, you can spike the caramel with some liquor, before you pour it into the ramekins.
- Crème Caramel is delicious on it's own, but Make a Fresh Berry Tart make an excellent accompaniment.
Warnings
- When the sugar has begun to caramelize, watch it carefully. Caramel burns quickly, and burnt caramel never tastes good.
- Crème Caramel is a guilty pleasure; do not take much if you've medical problems (diabetes, high blood pressure), or if you're dieting.
- Crème Caramel is not something you can cook with young kids. It is very dangerous to leave children around boiling water/caramel, and accidents are bound to happen.
- Caramel, at the saucepan stage, is very, very hot; be extremely careful around it.
