Crème Caramel

I must have been a very good girl lately, because today is turning out to be a wonderful day. I'm listening to Frank Sinatra, it is snowing, I have successfully made gluten-free cookies (and they taste pretty good, too!), and I got a shipment of books from Barnes and Noble, for which, due to a great sale and a gift card, I paid $3 out of pocket to get The Complete Sherlock Holmes, vol 1&2, The Scarlett Pimpernel, A Tale of Two Cities, Silas Marner, and This Side of Paradise. Yay!

Our camellia tree in the snow.

This has been a lovely day, so I will share a lovely recipe for crème caramel that I got from my sixth-grade history teacher. It makes a lovely, silky smooth custard in a sweet sauce. My dad, the chocoholic, liked it a lot, which I always count as a high praise for a non-chocolate dessert.

Caramel:

3/4 cup sugar

3 T water

Custard:

2 1/2 cups milk

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1 t vanilla

For the caramel:

put the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan. Heat on medium-high without stirring until the sugar turns a pale, golden, straw color. Quickly remove pan from heat and pour a small amount of caramel into each of eight ramekins (or other small heat-proof dish), swirl to coat the bottom, and invert onto a sheet of wax paper.

This shows the right color. The caramel will continue to darken as you pour, so you really do want it to be light when you remove it from the heat. You see the drips in the center and down the sides that are the result of turning the ramekin upside down for the sugar to harden. When you turn them right-side up again, the sugar will crack loudly: don't worry!

For the custard:

Preheat oven to 350*.

Put the eggs and the yolks in a bowl and whisk...

...until light and foamy.

In a saucepan, heat the milk to just below a simmer. 

Slowly add the milk to the eggs, whisking the whole time (you will either need to use your non-dominant hand for one of these activities, or get a slave younger sister/friend to help you). Add the vanilla.

Strain the custard into the eight ramekins, and put the ramekins into a 9x13 pan. Fill the pan halfway with boiling water, and bake the custards for 20-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, or coated with a clear liquid.

If, like me, you can have occasional custard trouble, don't worry, and just take the custards out of the oven after about 40 minutes.

Chill well.

To unmold, run a knife between the custard and the edge of the ramekin, and invert onto a plate.

-The Old Fashioned Girl