Friday 2 December 2011

A Special Night

Christmas is just around the corner and who can really believe that it has come around so quickly. I barely feel like I've gotten the hang of this year and now it's almost over.

Last night we put up our Christmas tree and I always like to make a nice meal to have to make the event just a bit more special. We enjoyed a family favourite Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic and for dessert I made creme caramel again adapted from a french book I have. The amazing thing about this is that, besides being incredibly easy, it doesn't taste like rice milk. I have actually made this for visitors who had no idea that it didn't contain dairy until I told them!

Creme Caramel
Ingredients

Caramel
  • 125g caster sugar

Custard
  • 625ml rice milk (or other milk of choice)
  • 125g caster sugar
  • 1/3 vanilla pod split open(or 1/2 tsp vanilla essense)
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 4 egg yolks
Method
  1. Place sugar into a heavy bottomed saucepan and heat until it dissolves and starts to turn into caramel. Swirl the pan so that it cooks evenly. Remove from heat and carefully add 2 tablespoons of water to stop it cooking. 
  2. divide between six 125ml ramekins or pour into a large ring tin and leave to cool.
  3. Preheat the oven to 180℃
  4. Put milk and vanilla pod into saucepan and bring almost to the boil.
  5. Mix together eggs and sugar in a large bowl.
  6. Strain the milk over the egg mixture and stir thoroughly.
  7. Pour into ramekins or tin and place into a roasting pan.
  8. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
  9. Bake for 35-40 mins or until the top looks set and it feels firm (kind of like a set jelly)
  10. Remove from roasting tin and leave to cool for approx 15 mins
  11. Run a knife around the inside of the mould and invert onto a serving plate.

So I think the bubbles mean that I've done something bad, like whisked it too much. But I put it down to the lack of cream.

Mmmm... Custardy goodness.

2 comments:

  1. Off I adore crème caramel and I'm sure it tasted divine. But guess what - you were right the first time. The bubbles are nothing to do with the lack of cream, they are just the result of overwhisking. It happens. If ever you are nervous about having overwhisked, just let the mixture sit for an hour or so while you do other stuff. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I never give myself enough time to do stuff like that. There's no minute quite like the last one :)

    ReplyDelete