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| Sweet Almond Pudding |
The other day I had this unusual hankering to have Crème brûlée. You know that incredibly thick and smooth vanilla custard topped with the crackling scorched sugar shell? Well I just wanted it.
However, it was 1.30 in the night and there was nothing I could do. So I improvised. I had to figure out a way to satisfy my sweet tooth and also make me not regret not owning a kitchen blowtorch (an essential equipment for making the French bad-babies).
And so I made my incredibly think, incredibly smooth and wonderfully rich sweet almond cream pudding.
In reality, this pudding is all about patience. Not with the cooking. That's easy but the waiting part. Since you must have it chilled. And as a sidenote, you must know tempering and the Bain-Marie method of cooking. Don't worry, I will explain it to you and it is easy. Just need you to know that these methods are involved.Now getting on with this pudding. It is just a egg-yolk, cream, sugar mixture. So it can be a store-cupboard recipe for you to whip out at will. Plus, if you are running short of cream cheese, just add in vanilla instead of sweet almonds and double the portions. The mixture is ready to go on top of a graham cracker crust for a lighter cheesecake. Enough said though, now the process.
You will need:
1. 5 large egg-yolks
2. 100 ml whole milk
3. 200 ml of double cream
4. 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
5. 1 tablespoon of sweet almond extract
6 Chopped nut or berries for decor (optional, I tend to avoid it on my pud but the rest of the family are succors for it)
Process:
1. Mix the sugar with the egg-yolks and beat it with an electric mixer till its pale and fluffy. It should look something like this.
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| The yolk mixture should look pale and airy |
2. Now mix the milk, cream and the sweet almond extract into a saucepan and start heating it over the stove. The idea is to heat the cream mixture and increase its consistency.
Take care not to let the mixture boil, that would just scorch the cream.
A gentle heat and constant stirring helps me. This will take about ten minutes.
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| Thickened Sweet Almond Cream |
3. Tempering: Once the creamy mixture is ready, get it off the stove and mix it with the yolk mixture one spoonful at a time and keep whisking the egg-cream mixture at the same time.
You have to follow this hint to a T. Since the idea is not to cook the eggs but to get the yolk adjusted to the temperature of the cream.
4. Once you have incorporated 5 spoonfuls of cream into the yolks like I said, you can now safely add the full egg-yolks mixture into the saucepan of cream.
5. Set the mixture to thicken further over the stove. Say about 5 mins.
6. Bain-Marie: In the meanwhile set 5 ramekins into a large baking tray. Now pour water into the baking tray so that it comes about 2/3rd of the way of the ramekin base.
Once the egg-cream mix has thickened, you gently pour in the mixture into the prepared ramekins and insert the tray into the oven.
Bake it for 30 mins at 180 degrees celcius.
7. The pudding will still be wobbly in the center when you take them out from the oven for cooling. Do not fret.
8. Once cooled, put these puddings away into the fridge, either for 2 hours or overnight.
9. When sufficiently cooled, you will have a firm pudding, ready to enjoy and mull over. Enjoy!
In the refrigerator they will keep well for 3 to 4 days but I doubt they will last that long anyway. :)