Custard
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Serves 4
This easy custard is great for everyday puddings and is also a skill that's useful for other recipes like ice cream. A little cornflour helps to thicken the custard, but it also makes it much more stable so there's no risk of it splitting.
Ingredients
- 600ml/1 pint full-fat milk
- 1 vanilla pod, slit lengthways and seeds scraped out
- 3 free-range eggs, yolks only
- 25g/1oz caster sugar
- 2 tsp cornflour
Method
Heat the milk and the vanilla pod and seeds in a pan over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until just coming up to boiling (you should see a little steam rising from the milk, but it shouldn't be bubbling). Set aside for 15 minutes to infuse and cool slightly. Remove the vanilla pod.
Meanwhile, mix together the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a heatproof bowl, whisking thoroughly to form a smooth paste.
If your kitchen is cold, you might need to reheat the milk slightly after infusing with the vanilla pod – the milk should be very warm but not boiling hot. Slowly pour the hot milk into the paste in a thin stream, whisking all the time. Keep whisking until all the milk is combined.
Strain the custard into a clean saucepan. Stirring constantly, cook gently over a low heat until the custard thickens. This can take up to 10 minutes and happens at around 75C/165F, if you have a cooking thermometer. If you don't, it's ready when the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and you can draw a line through it with your finger. If the line holds, the custard is ready.
Recipe tips
You can substitute 1 tsp vanilla extract for the vanilla pod. Add it in step 4 after the eggs and milk have thickened and before the custard cools. In step 1, you won't need to set the milk aside to infuse for 15 minutes, when you pour it over the egg mixture it should still be very warm but not boiling.
You can remove, wash and dry the vanilla pod to re-use in another recipe, such as vanilla sugar.
For an extra creamy custard, substitute up to 300ml/10fl oz of the milk with cream.
It's important to add the hot milk slowly to the egg yolk mixture. Adding hot milk too quickly can cause the eggs to scramble.
