Creme Caramel for Two Recipe
Can you freeze crème caramel? Non! That’s why I came up with this perfect Crème Caramel for Two recipe.
It’s been many months since I’ve cooked for four, which means it’s been way too many months since I’ve had crème caramel. You see, my recipe serves four. And there’s simply no reason to have leftover crème caramel around. It only keeps a day or two in the fridge, and you most certainly cannot freeze it!
And yet, I crave this classic French-bistro dessert. The smooth cool custard with its crown of caramel is just such a delight – I especially love serving it after a stew, roast, braise, or a pasta dish.
So, I’ve developed a recipe for two. This was trickier than it sounds! You see, my crème caramel recipe calls for four egg yolks and one egg. How do you cut that in half? I suppose you could use two egg yolks and half an egg, but …. I really wanted to figure out a way not to use three eggs if I could make it work with two.
One egg and one egg yolk? Nope. Tasted two egg-whitey. Two egg yolks? Almost, but something was missing. Two egg yolks and one egg white? It tasted a little diluted.
Fourth time was the charm. I used two egg yolks and just one tablespoon of egg white (from the eggs that were separated for the yolks). Plus, I added a little heavy cream (rather than using all milk). This helped make up for the wee bit of richness that I wasn’t getting by using part of a third egg yolk.
Voilà! A halved recipe without having to use that third egg.
So, what about the caramel? In France, supermarket aisles offer little packets of caramel liquide, the liquid caramelized sugar that provides the syrup for homemade crème caramel. This allows the home cook to skip the tricky caramelizing step.
I’m following that lead. While liquid caramel isn’t widely available here, good caramel sauces are. So, simply top the chilled, baked custard with an excellent ready-made caramel sauce. (I like Trader Joe’s Salted Caramel Sauce, by the way, though I usually have some of my own homemade caramel sauce on hand in the fridge).
Silky, light, and luscious — there’s really nothing else quite like it in the dessert world.
Crème Caramel Recipe for Two
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
A small pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Purchased or homemade caramel sauce, for serving
Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Set two 6-ounce custard cups into a baking pan. Put a pot of water on to boil.
In a small saucepan, bring the milk and cream just to a boil; remove from the heat. Separate the eggs, placing the whites in a small bowl and the yolks in a medium mixing bowl. Measure 1 tablespoon egg white and add to the yolks. (Save the remaining whites for another use, or discard).
Lightly beat the egg yolk mixture with the sugar and the salt. Slowly beat in the hot milk mixture until blended. Stir in the vanilla.
Slide the oven rack out and place the pan on the rack. Carefully pour the boiling water into the pan until it comes about three-quarters of the way up the custard cups, then slide the rack back in. Bake until the custard is just set (a knife inserted near the center should come out clean, but the center may jiggle slightly), 45 to 50 minutes.
Carefully remove the custard cups from the water bath. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for
30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 4 hours.
To serve, heat the caramel sauce in a small saucepan just until warm and pourable. Run a knife around the edges of custards; invert onto individual dessert plates. Pour some caramel sauce over the top of each custard.
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