Crème Caramels

We’ve got friends over for Sunday lunch tomorrow and seven-months-pregnant Jackie is currently wheat-free and Alannah is seriously allergic to nuts. It makes choosing a pudding more tricky than I’d thought.

What I really want to make is rhubarb crumble with oats in it but I’ve settled for crème caramel. It lost the popularity battle to crème brulee and panacotta years ago but it still wins for me. Rob and Scrap have gone to the cinema's kids club to see Chicken Little so I’m making a start now because creme caramel really likes a night in the fridge.

Makes 8
250g caster sugar
225ml whole milk
450ml single cream
6 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to gas 2 / 150C. Place the sugar in a pan set over a fairly high heat. Leave the sugar to melt, stirring and swirling occasionally until it dissolves into a dark golden liquid.

Take off the heat and add three tablespoons of water – take care as the caramel splutters up noisily. If it forms any lumps, put it back on the heat and warm gently until smooth again.

Divide about two thirds of the caramel between 8 individual ramekins, rolling them so the caramel goes up the sides too.

Add the milk and cream to the caramel to the pan and heat gently until the caramel melts again but make sure you don’t let it get too hot. This stage takes a while as the caramel has set hard to the bottom of the pan but it will dissolve into the milk with a little bit of warmth.

Beat the eggs in a bowl or large jug and whisk in the warm milk mixture and the vanilla extract.

Sit the ramekins in a roasting tin. Pour some of the custard into each one. Fill the roasting tin with a kettle of boiling water so it goes three quarters of the way up the outsides of the ramekins. Bake for 45 minutes until the custards are just set. Leave to cool then chill overnight.