Custard represents comfort food for me. It is probably because I remember the way my mom and grandmother used to cook them. The delightful smell of custard always drew me to the kitchen.
While some of you may love custard as is, I especially love baked custard, which adds more texture and flavor to the recipe. Custard has been a part of European cuisine for a long time.
Thickened eggs and milk were used in several ways and variations to create different desserts. When starch was added to the classic milk and egg mixture, it became a confectioner’s custard or pastry cream.
When poured into pastries and baked, the custard was served as custard tarts. In the modern day, you could buy a packet of custard powder and use it to make custard too.
But that leaves the authentic taste of this traditional recipe which is rather simple to make.
Today, we will look at a recipe for baked custard that maintains the classic taste of the dish. You can skip the baking and use the custard to make a custard pie or have it as is.
By baking the custard, it sets perfectly and adds a layer of crispiness to the top. I find it a lot more flavorsome too.
PrintBaked Custard Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups milk
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
Additional items:
10-12 ramekins to bake the custard
Instructions
- Prepare your oven for baking by preheating it to 350 degrees
- Take a heavy-bottomed saucepan and pour the milk in it. Scald the milk. It will start bubbling and slowly start to rise. Keep stirring the milk to avoid the thin layer of cream that would otherwise form on the top. Remove it from the heat just before it comes to a boil.
- Alternatively, you can also use a microwave to scald the milk. Take a microwave safe bowl and add the milk to it. Heat the milk in your microwave in 1-minute After every 1 minute of heating, take the milk out and stir it before returning it to the microwave. You will start noticing the bubbling of the milk when it is close to boiling. Remove it from the microwave before the milk boils.
- In a second bowl, beat the eggs on medium low and add the sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Keep whisking till the ingredients are properly mixed.
- Take one cup of the scalded milk and pour it into the egg mixture. Make sure that you keep whisking the eggs while pouring the milk. This will make sure that the hot milk does not cook the eggs and turn them into scrambled eggs. This step is known as tempering the eggs.
- Now pour the rest of the milk and keep whisking the egg mixture all the time to avoid cooking the eggs. Use a hand mixer to beat the mixture for about 30 seconds.
- Pour the mixture equally into the ramekins. You do not have the grease the ramekins.
- Sprinkle nutmeg powder over the custard and place the ramekins on a baking pan which is as deep as the ramekins.
- Heat 10 cups of water. Make sure that the water is very hot, but it does not have to be boiling.
- Pour the water into the baking pan. Do not spill any water inside the ramekins.
- Put the pan into your preheated oven and let it bake. It should take about 30 to 40 minutes for your baked custard to be ready. You will know that it is done when the custard is set on the sides and a knife inserted in it comes out clean.
- You can have your baked custard warm or cold. Refrigerate the leftover custard to make sure they do not get spoilt.