Oven cooked Caramel Custard

I had previously posted my pressure cooked caramel custard using a pressure cooker without pressure (looks confusing? :) , view my previous post here :)], a long time back. For those who don't have an oven, you can prepare equally good Caramel Custard pudding using the pressure cooked method.

I recently purchased some Ramekin cups especially for making Caramel Custard pudding. This time I followed Tyler Florence's Flan recipe of making this dessert. I feel flan and Caramel Custard is almost the same. The recipe he wrote is same as that for Caramel Custard pudding. I tweaked the recipe by using milk instead of heavy cream and added cinnamon powder instead of the cinnamon stick and also increased the amount of water to make caramel as suggested in the comments section of this recipe in Food Network This is one good way of avoiding the eggy smell. You may use nutmeg too.

I also want to mention that I felt so happy when Suma Rajesh, Divya and Andhra Flavors passed me the Bear Hug :) Love you dear friends and hugs to all of you dear bloggers and readers :) Each one of you are worthy of it:) I am going to also pass it to my long time blogger friend Seena of Simple and Delicious .

Coming to the pudding recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 cups whole or 1% milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
Pinch salt


To make the caramel: Combine 1 cup of the sugar and 1/4th cup of water in a heavy-bottomed pot or pan. Place over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar begins to melt. Swirl the pan over the heat until the syrup darkens to a medium amber color, about 10 minutes.Don't stir with a spoon after the sugar dissolves and is progressing towards caramelizing. Remove from the heat and immediately add the lemon juice and the rest of the 1/4th cup of water, swirl the pan again to combine, and then pour into the flan mold. Tilt the dish so that the caramel evenly coats the bottom and a bit up the sides, place in a casserole dish or another oven proof dish wide and deep enough to hold all the Ramekin cups and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F, bring a vessel with water to a boil for the water bath and keep it hot.

Combine the milk, cinnamon, and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium-low flame. Bring the mixture to a brief simmer, stirring occasionally. Don't let the mixture come to a boil. Just simmer it.

In a large bowl, cream together the whole eggs and yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar; add a pinch of salt. Whisk until the mixture is pale yellow and thick. Stir the egg mixture by gradually adding to it the milk-cinnamon-vanilla mixture. Do not add the entire milk mixture at once, as that causes the eggs to start cooking and make a mess by having scrambled eggs, so add it bit by bit to the egg and mix well after each addition. Pass the mixture through a strainer into a another vessel. Pour the custard into the caramel-coated mold filling it up to 3/4 level.



To create the water bath: Pour the hot water into the casserole pan to come halfway up the side of the mold. Be careful to not get water into the custard. Carefully transfer to the middle oven rack, and bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until the custard is set. You can confirm this by inserting by gently shaking the custard cup and the custard will jiggle a little (as written by Tyler :) ....Let the custard cool in the water bath, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. When you are ready to serve, run a knife around the inside of the mold to loosen the Caramel Custard. Place a dessert plate on top of the Caramel Custard and invert to pop it out.