Crème Caramel

Because I like to cook but have never cared much about baking, I’m always looking to add to my repertoire of blog’s desserts  – recipes you don’t have to be a precision baker to pull off. Here is a good example, magical and so so easy French dessert called Crème Caramel aka Flan aka Custard.

This creamy dessert has set deep in my heart ever since I first tried it during our trip to Mauritius, which I wrote about here.

It’s such a perfect choice for summer dessert when you have little time to cook but want to make an impression. To make it even more summery serve with your favorite fruits or berries or create an original and memorable dessert by making melted sugar decorations.

I present to you the world’s fanciest and at the same time easiest Crème Caramel! The only tricky part would be the first step of creating the actual caramel and distributing it evenly on the bottom of your ramekins. The caramel is 100% sugar, after caramelizing it hardens really fast so you have to be quick, but really careful not to burn yourself!

I’ve used my 8 inch creme brulee ramekins for this Crème Caramel recipe which turned great, although if this is your first time working with liquified sugar I would suggest using more narrow bottomed ramekins as it might be a little tricky to quickly distribute the caramel evenly on the bottom of all ramekins at once. Again, it hardens really fast and if you have wide ramekins like me, do one ramekin at a time. Simply pour enough caramel to cover the bottom of the ramekin and quickly swirl it around to distribute it as even as possible.

Watching that white sugar turn golden brown was pure magic. And once it hardens it looks like precious amber gemstone. I had so much fun creating these sugary amber designs by simply drizzling the liquefied sugar on a silicon mat. As the sugar cools down, you can pull long straps and make really cool random designs.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg + 3 egg yolks

splash of cognac

1 tbsp oil for greasing

pinch of salt

Start by greasing the ramekins with oil and placing them into a deep oven proof tray. Then set them aside.

To prepare the caramel add the sugar to a heavy bottom saute pan over medium high heat. In a couple of minutes you should start seeing a liquid sugar ring on the outside.

Once that starts to happen shake the pan back and forth and swirl it around. Keep the pan moving until all of that white sugar is melted. Reduce the heat to very low.

Take one ramekin at a time and quickly pour the caramel inside. Then carefully distribute it evenly on the bottom of each. Proceed to the next one.

Once you filled all the ramekins with caramel turn off the heat and use the leftovers to create designs by drizzling caramel on a silicon mat.

Preheat the oven to 325F.

To prepare the custard in a medium bowl whisk together the eggs and salt until frothy. Add condensed milk, cream, milk, sour cream, vanilla and a splash of cognac. Whisk everything until completely incorporated. Then strain the mixture through the strainer.

Fill the ramekins evenly with the custard mixture up to 75% of the way. Then pour hot water into the tray about half way up the height of the ramekins. This water bath helps the Crème Caramel cook more evenly.

Place the tray in the middle of the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the centre is set. Remove them from the pan and place on a wire rack to cool a little bit, about 15 minutes.

Before unmolding run the knife around the ramekin to detach the custard and invert it on to a serving plate.

Traditionally Crème Caramel is served cold, but you do get more caramel by unmolding them when they are still a little warm. It is easier to unmold that way and then chill them.

Serve with some cool sugar designs or fresh fruits. Enjoy!