Old Fashioned Egg Custard

Old Fashioned Egg Custard

* 2 large Egg Yolks
* 3 large Eggs
* 1/2 cup Sugar or Rapadura
* 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
* 3 cups Milk
* 1-1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
* Nutmeg

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Butter a 1-quart baking dish or 8 ramekins. Set a shallow pan large enough to hold the baking dish or ramekins in oven and fill it with 1 inch of hot water.

Heat milk in a saucepan over low heat until just steaming. DO NOT BOIL. In a large bowl, beat the yolks and whole eggs together just enough to blend. Stir in the sugar and salt and slowly add the hot milk, stirring constantly. Add the vanilla. Pour into the baking dish or dishes and sprinkle with nutmeg (if you heated the milk too hot it may have curdled some of the eggs, you can "fix" the custard by simply straining it before adding to the dishes, but if you only heat it to steaming, you won't need to do this.)

Put ramekins or casseroles into the prepared water bath pan and bake for about 45 minutes; the custard is set when it looks puffy and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool and enjoy at room temperature or cooled.

VARIATIONS:

COCONUT CUSTARD Add 1/2 cup flaked coconut before putting into the baking dishes.
CHOCOLATE CUSTARD Melt 1 1/2 ounces dark chocolate into the milk while it is being heated (picture above is chocolate custard - I just melted six small Dove dark chocolate squares with the milk, I did not measure it! :).
CARAMEL CUSTARD Melt 1/2 cup sugar in a heavy skillet and cook without stirring, swirling the pan so the sugar moves as it melts. When it becomes caramel-colored, pour about 1 tablespoon into each custard cup and swirl around to coat the bottom and sides. The caramel will harden at first but the next steps corrects that. Pour the custard on top of the caramel and bake as above.
COFFEE CUSTARD Add 2 tablespoons instant coffee or strong espresso to the milk before it is heated.