I know what you’re probably thinking. That toffee-crunchy top is looking a little … ah … squidgy? Not even part-cooked? Well, as it happened, I don’t have a blowtorch and the recipe (and others I’ve seen) say it can be done under the grill. Which is what I tried to do, but lost my nerve and took them out before something went wrong.
So, basically, technically, what you see here in this picture is a glorified baked custard. It was very tasty, though.
Ingredients
1 vanilla bean
3 cups (750ml) thickened cream
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup caster sugar
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease six 1/2-cup (125ml) ovenproof dishes.
2. Split vanilla bean in half and scrape seeds into small saucepan. Add pod add cream and heat without boiling.
3. Place egg yolks and half the sugar in bowl; gradually whisk in hot cream mixture. Set bowl over medium saucepan of simmering water. Stir over heat for 10 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. Discard pod.
4. Place dishes in large baking dish and pour custard in these evenly. Add enough boiling water to baking dish to come halfway up sides of dishes.
5. Bake custards 20 minutes or until set. Remove custards from dish and cool. Cover, then refrigerate overnight.
6. Preheat grill. Place custards in shallow flameproof dish filled with ice cubes. Sprinkle each custard evenly with other half of the sugar. Smooth gently over the surface of each custard. Place dish under grill until sugar caramelises.
This is recipe forty-eight of the 1 recipe a week for a year ‘living list’ challenge. (48/52).
