Saturday, November 03, 2007

Custard (DF; NG; SF; SCD; V)

This recipe makes a fair amount. I bought small canning jars so that I could make this once a week, divide it up into the small jars and have enough for two breakfasts for the whole family all ready to go.

Mix all together in pot (not on a stove).

8 medium eggs
2 cups milk (or 1 cup coconut milk; 1 cup water or 2 cups water)
1/2 cup honey
4 tablespoons arrowroot (omit for SCD and remove 2 egg whites)
1 tablespoon vanilla (not necessary)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Mix this all very well so that there are no lumps.

Place on a medium burner and stir constantly. It should take about ten minutes. Be patient! Or you will end up with scrambled eggs.

If you do end up with a light scramble, you can re-smooth your custard with a decent stick blender (immersion blender) fairly easily.

(Can you tell I'm not the most patient cook on the planet?:D )

Once it begins to bubble, remove from heat and continue to stir for a couple of minutes until the bottom of the pot cools a little.

Divide into bowl/jars. Eat or put lids in place and refrigerate immediately.

Awesome variations are:

Eating it like yoghurt with nuts or granola on top. (Homemade gf granola of course!) Hemp seeds are a *fabulous* choice for this and my very favourite thing to do.

Place it over top of stewed apples, other fruit or angelfood cake.

Make it different flavours by stewing fruit, pureed with a stick blender and mixing into your custard. This can be done before placing lids on jars and refrigerating.

Lemon is awesome but you need to avoid all metal or you will end up with an awful metal after-taste as the acid will leach metal molecules into your custard.

I bought a glass double boiler at a second-hand store for $8 (when the Can. $ really was worth nothing) and use it a lot more than I ever thought I would! I use a wisk to mix everything but the lemon (before putting my pot on the heat), and then add the lemon juice with a wooden spoon and throughout the rest of the recipe.

Bananas going bad? Throw them in the freezer and they will mash easily for throwing into your custard and making a heavenly banana pudding that can also be poured and set into a pie crust for a fabulous Banana Cream Fool's Pie.

As always, if it's still too lumpy, get out your trusty stick blender to blend out those lumps!

Cocoa, of course, gives a chocolate flavour.

It can also be frozen in a paper cup with a popsicle stick. It's quite nice and rich if all the water is replace with coconut milk or other fatty replacement. (Fats are not bad... I'll get to that rant eventually.) Another thing is replacing all the egg whites with egg yolks. (You can always make macaroon cookies with the whites and freeze them for when someone drops by for a visit - or the kids need a couple of cookies with their bagged lunch.)

I especially like the fudgsicles that they make when I add some cocoa powder because it tastes like the 'real fudgesicles' I used to buy from the ice cream guy on the 'bicycle' that roamed my neighbourhood in the summer when I was a kid.

In winter, one of my favourite breakfasts is stewed apples topped with warm custard. It makes my tummy really happy! :)