Custard Recipe This is my basic, 'can't mess it up' homemade custard recipe. You can use it anywhere vanilla pudding is called for in a recipe. Custard is endlessly versatile…it’s amazing served with fresh berries or in tarts; as the filling in chocolate éclairs; you can make it into a creamy sauce, and pour it over pound cake or gingerbread...you can bake it in a pie shell, flavor it, OR <closes eyes in reverence> you can freeze it. Be sure to factor in the chilling time. Variations are below the basic recipe.
Yields: 2 ½ cups of custard Double this if you’re making banana pudding Ingredients: 2 c. milk (at least 2%…whole is preferred) 2/3 c. sugar 3 tablespoons corn starch 2 teaspoons vanilla extract ¼ t. salt 1 egg 1 egg yolk 2 T. butter Instructions: In a medium sized, heavy bottomed saucepan, combine all ingredients except butter. Whisk well, and set over medium heat. Cut butter into chunks and set aside. Cook, stirring casually and continuously until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Remove from heat, and stir in butter until incorporated. Pour through a strainer into a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Chill.
Variations For frozen custard: Omit the cornstarch and the butter. Instead of milk, you'll use 1 cup of half & half (the REAL stuff...fat free half and half is some sort of awful joke). Mix with sugar, salt and 3 eggs, and heat/stir until thickened. Pour into your ice cream freezer or a shallow pan. Freeze until slushy. Whip up 1 cup of whipping cream with vanilla and fold into partially frozen mixture. Freeze. Holy. Moley. For custard sauce: Just omit the corn starch and butter. For super-duper silky custard: Use any combination of whole milk or half and half...or you can sub some whipping cream in with regular milk to bring up the fat content. Fat=silky. (At least until it hits my thighs…then it takes on more of a cottage cheese texture.) Vanilla lovers custard: Use a vanilla bean, scraped, or 2 t. vanilla paste...stir in at the last, when adding the butter. Chocolate custard: Stir in half cup (or more) mini chocolate chip, along with the butter, into the hot custard. Lemon or Orange Custard: Add zest of one lemon or orange, and 1/4 t orange or lemon oil when you stir in the butter.
For a photographic tutorial of this homemade custard recipe, *and* the tutorial on banana pudding and other wonderful things, go to… http://www.gwens-nest.com/family-favorite-recipes/custard-recipe