Vanilla Infused Egg Custard, Gentle Nutrition

Nutmeg flecks, the perfect custard underneath, such fond memories of simple egg custard. Curling up on something soft to enjoy it, custard isn’t the same on a hard dining room chair, it is best with soft socks and a dog-eared blanket. Simple egg custard, so non-threatening, its gentleness can coax the most tired body to eat. Grief and trauma leave us nutritionally depleted, our insides twisted in knots, eating can often be relegated to pretzels and crackers, not exactly life sustaining. Egg custard became my good friend, high protein, not too sweet, vanilla to calm and soothe, just preparing it helps me center and focus. This is my favorite recipe for egg custard, I have tried all sorts of ratios of eggs to milk, amounts of sugar, and this is what the collection of hand scribbled notes have baked down to. I hope you enjoy and find some gentle moments.

Ingredients:

5 Large or extra large eggs
2 and 1/2 cups whole milk. I prefer non-homogenized
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar. I used vanilla sugar, but I have a thing for vanilla.
One vanilla bean. My vanilla thing is pretty intense
Vanilla Extract. Two teaspoons, but then I wasn’t measuring.
1/4 Tsp Almond Extract. Optional, but nice.
1/4 Tsp sea salt
1/2 cup to 1 cup unsweetened coconut. Optional, but if you love coconut, it makes a wonderful layer of coconut on the top.

The purest, simplest egg custard has 5 ingredients that are necessary, milk and eggs being the stars of the show. With nothing to hide behind, these two co-stars need to be the best and freshest you can find, it will be worth every penny.

First the milk. We have the great joy of having a milkman who flawlessly delivers our fresh milk, eggs, and other groceries every week. We love South Mountain Creamery! I use non-homogenized, cream-on-top, whole milk.

And next the eggs, again from South Mountain Creamery. I use extra large. I take them out of the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before I start heating the milk, that allows them to warm up to room temperature a bit. Eggs are beautiful.

The next step is pouring the measured milk in a saucepan and slowly warming it on the stove, you never want to be harsh with the milk, no boiling, just gentle heat so we can infuse the vanilla bean. Slice your vanilla bean in half and carefully scrape out all that priceless vanilla caviar and add it to the milk that is warming, place the scraped vanilla bean in the milk also, vanilla beans are the gift that keeps on giving. The next step is optional, if you do not like coconut, no worries. But if coconut makes your heart sing, then add the shredded, unsweetened coconut to the milk, it will rehydrate in the milk and impart coconut flavor and goodness. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Give everything a gentle stir and let it continue to warm gently on the stove top. We are looking for the milk to steam, you will see the whispy steam trails as you stir. Watch the milk carefully, no bubbling or boiling. No hurrying, we want the vanilla and coconut to infuse the milk with all those flavor nuances. On a back burner, place a kettle full of water to simmer, we are going to bake the custard in a water bath and will need that kettle of water near boiling.

As the milk is warming, now it is time to prepare the eggs. I break my eggs one at a time into a separate bowl, so much easier to remove a piece of shell if done one by one. Plus, eggs glow with life, they are beautiful, take a moment savor their goodness.

Place each egg in your mixing bowl, I use a stand mixer, and beat on low speed, everything with a custard is gentle. Slowly add the sugar, please don’t add all at once. Sugar added too quickly will burn your eggs, so go slow. I used vanilla sugar, I always have a container of it on the shelf, you can read about all things vanilla here. Add the sea salt and extracts. I love vanilla, so I pour from the bottle, but two teaspoons is good, and I do like a tiny splash of almond.

Our eggs, sugar, salt, and extracts are all blended and just a bit frothy from the mixer, now it is time to temper the egg mixture with the steaming milk. Remove the vanilla beans from the steaming milk and place them in a measuring cup for right now. Tempering the eggs prevents scrambling them with the hot milk. This step can’t be skipped or rushed and it is absolutely worth every minute. With your mixer running on a lower speed, add the steaming milk a shallow spoonful at a time. Find a calm spot inside yourself and just enjoy the process, towards the end your spoonfuls can be more generous. Scrape all the little vanilla flecks from your saucepan and add it your custard mixture. It should look like this:

The water in your kettle should be near boiling. The next steps are important, a water bath keeps your custard from being dry, eggs prefer gentle heat and it is simple to do. I use my mom’s roasting pan for the water bath, it must be 30 years old and an absolute workhorse in my kitchen. A two quart square baking dish fits perfectly into the roasting pan allowing room for me to grasp the baking dish safely. Pour your custard mixture into your two quart baking dish. If you are concerned about bits of cooked egg bits, go ahead and strain it as you are pouring the mixture into the baking dish. I don’t strain because all the little coconut flakes catch in the strainer, and honestly, I haven’t had a problem with stray bits of cooked egg from the tempering. Now my favorite part, grating fresh nutmeg over the top of the custard.

Place your empty roasting pan in your preheated oven. Place the baking dish filled with the custard mixture into the empty roasting pan. Now take that kettle of near boiling water and carefully pour into the roasting pan, I usually fill mine about half way.  As gently as you can, slide your oven rack into the oven without sloshing your water bath into the custard.

Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes and then check your custard with a thin knife in the center, it should come out nearly clean and your custard should be still a bit wiggly. I usually find my custard takes 35 to 40 minutes. When done, remove from the oven by means of the roasting pan. Once it is safely flat on a heat safe pad, remove the baking dish from the water bath and place on a cooling rack. Let custard cook completely before placing in the refrigerator. The custard will set up nicely as it cools.

My heart still flutters every time I cut into a fresh custard, did it set-up? Did I get it right?

A few thoughts, if you like your custard a little sweet, use 3/4 cups of sugar, you may find the 1/2 cup of sugar not hitting the right notes for you. Doug will sometimes drizzle a little pure maple syrup over his custard to give a hint of sweet to his serving. Oh and those vanilla beans we saved in a measuring cup, steam them again with milk and make vanilla scented hot cocoa.

Be good to you, nurture your body and soul, warriors need special care.

Love, Terri