Description
Light, delicate, and elegant — also, totally delicious. This is my favorite dessert. When inverted into a serving dish, the caramel surrounds the custard like an island.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 3 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup cream
- 1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Beat eggs and yolks together, just to blend. Stir in 1/2 cup of sugar. Then, in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the milk and cream together over medium heat until almost boiling, but do not boil. Remove from the heat and slowly add the hot milk and cream to the egg mixture, stirring constantly. Then, add the vanilla.
- To make the caramel, put the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar into a dry skillet over medium heat. Swirl the pan, but don’t stir. Cook until the sugar has melted and turned a deep caramel color.
- The caramel dries as it cools, so work quickly to divide it among 8 buttered ramekins, swirling each to coat the bottoms. Pour the custard into ramekins, filling to about 3/4¾. Set the dishes into a roasting pan. Pour boiling water into the pan to about 1-inch deep. Put the roasting pan into the oven for 45 minutes, or until a knife, inserted in the middle, comes out clean. Chill, covered in the refrigerator.
- To serve, cut tightly around the edge of the ramekin, place a small bowl over it, and turn both upside down so the custard releases into the bowl.