The first time I made creme caramel was when I was about 11 or 12 years old. My French teacher decided to invite us all to her house for the day for a French cooking lesson. We made creme caramel. It was amazing and surprisingly simple. For such an elegant dish, it really did not take that long to make at all although there were multiple steps. I prefer my creme caramel to have a bittersweet taste but if you want it to be less bitter, take your caramel off the heat as soon as it starts to change colour as it will continue to cook and darken.
Serves 6
Prep time 20 mins
Cook time 30 mins
Ingredients
260g caster sugar (150g + 110g batches)
80-100ml water
700ml milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
5 eggs
6 ramekins
Preheat oven to 160°C.
Mix 150g sugar with the water over a high heat until boiling and stir for about 5 minutes until golden brown, taking care not to burn it. Remove from heat and pour into 6 ramekins, swirling until the base is well coated.
Combine the milk and vanilla essence in a saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until it starts to bubble at the edges and remove from heat.
Whisk eggs and the remaining sugar in a bowl until pale.
Slowly add the cream mixture, whisking constantly to prevent the milk from cooking the eggs and making it lumpy.
Strain and divide between the ramekins.
Place the ramekins in a large baking tray. Pour boiling water into the baking tray up to about half of the ramekins.
Bake for 30 minutes and set aside to cool. Preferably, refrigerate overnight to let it set.
When ready to serve, run a knife around the edges of the ramekins and flip over on to plates and serve. I served with some fruit that my friend brought over to share but it’s fine to serve it on it’s own.