May 19, 2009

Caramel Custard Pudding - One of my favorites!!!

Caramel custard pudding is one of my all-time favorite desserts. I love the texture, the taste and the feel that this dessert brings. The smooth, creamy, cool feel of this amazing dessert in your mouth, can be best described as heavenly!

I dont remember the first time I had this wonderful piece of heaven, but I do remember that my mom used to make this at home for special occassions and sometimes, just because :-). My brother and I were ardent lovers of mom's caramel custard and it isnt surprising at all that I learned the recipe for this before any other!! My mom used to cook the custard in a pressure cooker (without gasket) and basically steam it. My brother and I would fight like crazy for the liquid caramel that forms once its cooked.

After coming to the US, I searched for a recipe that didnt require the custard to be steamed, but rather could be baked. I came across this amazing recipe at Chef De Cuisine. I tried these out and they came out really well. Since then, I have made this recipe a zillion times since then, mostly in half the quantity, and have always been happy with it. So I thought that its high time that I shared this recipe which has given me good results consistently. JM is also a big fan of caramel custard and there's no doubt that this will be our go-to recipe forever! The pictured custard was gone in two days, I mean TWO days!!! (Actually we started working on this last Friday night, and it was gone by Saturday evening!!). Do try this out and I know you will love it! I will be happy to answer any questions that you might have, so please send an email to jz.tastytreats@gmail.com.

Recipe (Serves 8) :

For the caramel :

Sugar - 3/4 cup
Water - 2 tbsp

Heat the sugar and water together in a saucepan. Melt the sugar and wait until the sugar is caramelized and turns dark brown. Remove from heat and pour into a large mould or individual moulds. Swirl to cover the bottom of the mould/s and allow to cool completely.

For the custard:

Eggs - 6
Milk - 1 quart (32oz)
Granulated sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp


Method :

Pre-heat the oven to 350F.

Beat the eggs and sugar together until well blended.

Boil the milk in a saucepan.

Add the boiling milk into the egg-sugar mixture and mix until uniform.

Stir in the vanilla essence.

Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into the single large mold or individual molds.

Bake in a water bath for about 30 minutes for a single mold and 20 minutes for smaller individual molds.

Allow to cool and refrigerate.

Before serving, run a knife through the edge of the mold and invert onto a serving plate.

Enjoy!!

Source : Chef De Cuisine



Tips:
  1. The recipe can be halved and it still works.
  2. Before pouring into the caramel coated mould, cool the custard mix slightly so that it doesnt melt the caramel coating.
  3. For the waterbath, place the mould in a bigger oven-proof pan/skillet and pour hot or boiling water atleast halfway up the sides of the custard mould. The waterbath helps the custard to cook uniformly without drying up.
  4. Caramel custard can be also served with fresh fruits. I just served them plain with some caramel juice, which is just the way we like it! :-)
  5. The caramel custard can also be cooked by steaming.
  6. Make sure to add the milk to the egg-sugar mixture and not the other way around, theres a chance of the mixture appearing curdled, if you do.

Thanks for visiting! Have a great day!

11 comments:

delhibelle said...

that's a really luscious looking caramel pudding

Parita said...

OMG thats so delicious caramel custard..looks heavenly :)

Finla said...

Love the colour andit looks beautiful and creamy delicous.

Kalyani said...

Wow it looks so tempting .... pictures look great ... thanks for sharing ...... will try this ....

Anonymous said...

yes, I love this one too. Just need to ensure the eggs are tempered well while adding the boiling milk, else they sometimes scramble.

Its an easy one to whisk when you have guests. Your pudding looks great, Neat plating, JZ!

Trupti said...

pudding looks ..very yummy JZ..love the presentations & photos

A_and_N said...

lovely pudding JZ. i'm surprised that one could add boiling milk to the egg/sugar mixture. wouldnt the eggs get scrambled? just curious.

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

The pudding looks so divine and wickedly delicious... oh I am so tempted to have some now!!!

Purnima said...

Soooo elegantly done! Wow..loved the minute detailing with garnish! Yummmmmmyyyyyy! Pics r mind blowing!(or mouth blowing!:D)

@the_whisk_affair said...

A & N, if you add the eggs to the boiling milk, it will become scrambled....But until now, I havent had any porblems the other way around...

Sonia said...

After a long time of actual eating this when you made it,I ventured out to make it..Like you it holds a some childhood memories as it was something my mom made that was close to non Indian fancy dessert:-)..So here's how "not " to make it-The first time I made it-I made the perfect caramel base and popped it in the fridge while I made th custard and later poured it in the mould and it starts leaking out-opps..I realised a springform pan should not be used-I thought it will so much easier to unmold..so in order to save it..I tranfer the base to another panand pour rest of custard and put in a water bath which almost fit around the pan..20 mins later-I open the oven and another disaster-the pan toppled into the waterbath..and all I was left with was some its and bits of pudding with caramel in the pan (which for the rercord tasted good)..Next day I thought I will try again before giving up..this time I use three ramekins and also a muffin pan. I could put 2 ramekins in water bath like ur recipe suggested and slide it in bottom rack of oven,on the top rack,I put just the ramekin(no water) and the muffin pan with 1 paperline pudding..thinking the water used in waterbath below will be enuf for all..20 mins later-my puddings are intact look good..after a cold wave in the fridge-they are ready..

Verdict-water bath is needed for smooth surface-muffin pan is too small an area-but I was hoping if thats a sucess-I can make individual cups for a larger crowd..again not a success..the best is ramekins in waterwath or bigger mold with fitting waterbath (which I will try ..later maybe:-)
Thanks JZ for this recipe-its an extremely rich and sweet and indulging dessert!!