Classic French Baked Egg Custard with Vanilla and Caramel
Ultra-smooth baked egg custard with vanilla and liquid caramel. A classic French dessert, easy to make and incredibly creamy.
Ingredients
- 2 cup whole milk
- 2 cup heavy cream
- 200 g de eggs about 4 large eggs or 5 small eggs
- 60 g de egg yolks about 3 yolks
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 vanilla beans split and scraped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 140°C (285°F).
- For a home oven, Philippe Conticini recommends a lower temperature of 130°C (265°F) for an ultra-smooth texture.
- Rinse a saucepan with cold water without drying it (a simple tip to prevent sticking).
- Pour in the milk and heavy cream, then add the vanilla beans.
- Heat gently until just before boiling, then remove from the heat.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, whole eggs, and egg yolks until the mixture becomes pale and slightly thickened.
- Slowly pour the hot milk-and-cream mixture over the eggs, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from curdling.
- Arrange ramekins in a large oven-safe baking dish.
- Pour the custard mixture evenly into the ramekins.
- Pour hot water into the baking dish until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake for about 2 hours.
- The custard should be slightly wobbly in the center — not liquid, but not firm.
- Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for 24 hours (overnight is ideal).
- Just before serving, drizzle with liquid caramel.