Thursday, August 7, 2008

Brown Sugar Custards with Cointreau Cream


In the world of food, Pam Anderson is not the bombshell blonde sex symbol. She is a cookbook author. Her most recent cookbook is
The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, which I just ordered myself.

She had a few recipes featured in Food and Wine Magazine recently and this one caught my eye. It was a rewarding little recipe.

The components are all easy to prepare. In fact, you could do what I did. I made the candied orange peels one day, and the next day I made the custard. While it cooked I whipped-up the whipped cream! By the way, the whipped cream wasn't in the original recipe - it sure doesn't help to lose weight. But I used a small amount!
I love the flavor. It tastes like caramel, with hints of orange coming from the zest in the recipe. The whipped cream on top has Cointreau in it, expanding on the orange flavor in the custard. It's topped with yet another layer of orange, the candied peels.






Brown Sugar Custards with Cointreau Cream
Adapted from Pam Anderson (in Food and Wine Magazine)

Custard Ingredients
1 3/4 cups 2 percent evaporated milk
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest


Whipped Cream Ingredients (Whipped Cream is optional!)
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons Cointreau

candied orange peel for garnish


For the Custard
Preheat the oven to 325°.

Combine the evaporated milk and brown sugar. Add it to a saucepan with the heat on medium. Stir occasionally so the sugar dissolves while you bring the mixture to a simmer. Be careful not to boil it.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolk, vanilla and orange zest.

You will need to combine the hot mixture with the eggs. But if you were to simply add the heated milk and sugar mixture to the egg mixture, you would cook the eggs and they would clump. The way to avoid the egg cooking is to only put in a small amount of the milk and sugar mixture into the eggs and stir while you add that small amount. Mix it up, and then add another small amount of the milk and sugar mixture. By doing this, the egg mixture heats up and distributes so that it won't clump and cook when you add the rest of the heated ingredients.

Once combined, strain the custard through a sieve to catch any solids that may have occurred anyway.

Place four small ramekins in a baking dish or roasting pan. Pour the custard into the ramekins. Add enough hot water to the baking dish to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins.



Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, until the custards are just set.

Remove the ramekins from the pan and water. I used a set of tongs. Place them on a cooling rack and let them cool for at least 1/2 hour.

Cover the custards with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours.

Garnish with the optional Cointreau-flavored whipped cream and candied orange peels.

For the Whipped Cream
Place the cold cream in a medium bowl. Mix on high till whipped. Add sugar and mix again. Add Cointreau and mix again. Refrigerate until ready to use.


Brown Sugar Custards with Cointreau Cream

In the world of food, Pam Anderson is not the ...

See Brown Sugar Custards with Cointreau Cream on Key Ingredient.

10 comments:

Joe Horn said...

Great pictures. Makes me want to get off my butt and make something. :)

Nice work!

Alexa said...

This looks beautiful. I have some candied oranges left in my fridge... I feel dessert coming together for tonight's dinner. Thanks!

Elle said...

Oh my gosh, these look incredible! I'll have to keep a look out for that book.

Thistlemoon said...

That sounds soooo good! Wow, what beauties!

puppymomma said...

They really were good. They will also be the perfect dessert in the fall!

I made more candied orange peels too. I also tried lemon peels. I definitely prefer the orange. I used less sugar to coat them in this time. I'll try to save some to chocolate-coat them this time.

Anonymous said...

I am a total sucker for brown sugar. And custard. And I have candied orange peels in the fridge! Guess what I'm having for dessert tonight?

Anonymous said...

I love anything involving brown sugar! Definitely bookmarking this one. Yum.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Meryl this looks gorgeous! I have just eaten a lot of pizza but I could still go one of these.

Alicia Foodycat said...

I tried to make this yesterday but ended up using cream... Delicious! I linked to your much healthier version though!

Anonymous said...

@Foodycat, It must have been delicious!