Blind to Bounds

Silky Creme Caramelle

Traditional Creme Caramel was the first  dessert I learnt to cook.

A favorite of my Papa’s, I saw my mother make it religiously on his birthdays. After he passed away in 1997, it became a ritual dish to celebrate his birth anniversary with his loved dessert.

I found this the easiest of desserts to make and with basic ingredients which were always there sitting in the kitchen-milk, eggs and sugar. Over the years I  tried several personalized modifications like baking with pineapples, with raisins and nuts, or  adding  flavors like coffee and chocolate. However nothing worked well except it’s old fashioned caramel flavor.

We all  loved the caramel top the most, and always reserved it  for the last bite. So in my greed for more caramel I thought why not caramelize the whole thickness for once. And the result was the following creme caramel.

My folks loved it, and now prefer it over the traditional creme caramel.

Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar( or more if you like it more sweet),
1.5 liters full cream milk,
6 large whole eggs,
1 tsp vanilla essence.

For topping:
Soft fresh whipping cream ( lightly sweetened)
I tbsp Caramel sugar

Method:

Put granulated sugar in a thick base pan and keep on medium heat. Let the sugar melt slowly and then caramelize to golden brown. Remove the pan from heat and add on it 1.5 liters of full cream (4%) milk. Continue on slow heat till the caramelized sugar dissolves in warm to hot milk. Take it off the stove and let it get luke warm.
Break 6 large eggs in a plastic bow and whip them. Add them to the lukewarm caramelized milk. Add vanilla essence and whip thoroughly.

The key to a silky cream caramel is its next procedure of baking it in a bain-marie ( water bath).
{I take a pyrex rectangular dish way larger than the one in which the caramel is to be cooked. Add boiling water in it to half its height. Place over it the dish with the cream caramel liquid}.

Place the bain marie( water bath)  in the oven and cook at 180 degrees Celsius  for 60 minutes. Let it bake slowly in the bain-marie without bubbling. At the end check if the middle of the dessert is set by pricking it with a tooth pick. If it comes out clean, it has set well. If not, give it some more time in the oven.

Let it cool for a while, and then take out the set cream caramel. Refirgerate it overnight. Next day spread sweetened whipped cream over it, and then make a little caramel sugar again and drizzle it over the cream as shown in the picture.

Serve it cold ( unlike the traditional cream caramel which is served warm).

Its the silkiest of desserts your taste buds would have ever felt.

Happy feasting !!!

P.S. Would love to hear back how did it turn out? 🙂