Crème Caramel

I love crème caramel. For those of you who do not know what is crème caramel, it is a soft custard-type of dessert. As opposed to crème brulee where its surface is hard, creme caramel has a delicate and soft caramel surface. Most of the time, this dessert is prepared in the oven baine-marie style but I prefer the steamed version.

Last week I made this dessert for Cheryl's birthday party. It turned out so nice and smooth. The last time I made it, it was a disaster. It was way too sweet. This round, it tasted just nice. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I got this recipe from Caramel Custard Pudding but I modified her steps.

The following is the recipe that I used:-

Ingredients:
Custard
200 ml milk
10 gm caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
30 gm caster sugar

Caramel
10 ml hot water
40 gm caster sugar

Instructions:

1. Bring the milk and sugar to a boil on low heat. Once boiled, turn off the heat and mix in vanilla essence. Put aside.

2. Whisk the eggs and sugar then put aside.

3. As for the caramel, heat the caster sugar in a saucepan till it melted and turn brown. Do not stir the sugar but just rotate and move the saucepan till all the sugar is melted. Stirring will caused the sugar to be crystallised. When the sugar start to bubble up, add in the hot water and stir till properly mixed.

4. Coat the bottom of greased ramekins/moulds/bowls/ with the caramel. It is fine if the caramel does not coat the bottom of the moulds properly as the steaming process will help to spread it evenly. Leave the remaining caramel in the saucepan.

5. Pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture and whisk again. Once done, strained it into another bowl or pitcher. This step must be done delicately to ensure that there is no air bubble. This proces is important to get a smooth custard texture.

6. Then pour the custard mixture into the individual ramekins/moulds/bowls which has been coated with caramel.

7. I fill the custard mixture into 4 very small bowls, so the steaming time needed is only 15 minutes. Once the steaming is done, remove the ramekins/moulds/bowls from the steamer.

8. Reheat the remaining caramel in the saucepan and add in some water to thin it out. Then pour the thinned caramel on the steamed custard. Refrigerate them in the fridge for few hours before consumption without removing them from their mould.

9. To serve, pour out the thinned caramel from the moulds into the serving plate. Loosen the sides of the custards and invert it into the serving plate with the thinned caramel.

Enjoy!!