Leprechauns Crossing

Happy St. Patrick's to everyone who's been touched by the magic of Ireland! 

I had the chance to spend 3 and half years in this amazing country and I experienced myself how it simply grows on you and makes you hate the weather but learn to really appreciate the sun the people and the music... 

And who can forget the green color of the grass and the hills - always fresh and always young and the Irish sheep of course - always bold and never far away from the middle of the road... :)

So here it is - Sláinte for Ireland and the Irish... and for the leprechauns of course!

Crème Caramel

Finding a recipe for Crème Caramel to actually work for me took some time, but last week I finally made it. So here it is -it's delicious, smooth and yes - already gone :) Enjoy the recipe!

Ingredients (8-9 servings):

Image by craftcookie

Custard:

1 l milk

8 whole eggs

120 g sugar

vanilla

Caramel:

120 g sugar

4 tablespoons water
rum soaked raisins



Caramel: 
Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan. For additional flavor you could replace one table spoon of water with one table spoon of lemon juice. Bring to a boil and cook until the color turns to amber. Don't stir and don't let the caramel get too dark. While still hot, quickly pour into ramekins to coat bottom. Let it cool down. For additional flavor add some rum soaked raisins on top of the caramel.
If you're a particularly big caramel fan, make a larger quantity. The "sugar-to-water" proportion is 30 g of sugar to 1 tablespoon of water.  

Custard:
Heat oven to 325 degrees (160 Celsius).
In a saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla, until it starts simmering gently. Add sugar to the milk and stir until the sugar dissolves completely. Remove the milk from the heat and let it cool down a bit.

Beat the eggs, slowly stir in small amount of milk to even out the temperature of the milk and the eggs. Gradually and slowly start adding the eggs to the rest of the milk. Pour into the ramekins.

Place the ramekins into a large roasting pan and put the pan into the oven. Carefully, pour enough water to come halfway up the sides of the pan (this way you won't have to carry and balance a heavy water and custard filled pan around the kitchen).

Bake for around an hour until set (or a bit more if necessary). Knife inserted in the center of a ramekin should come out clean. Remove the ramekins from the water bath and let them cool down to room temperature. Run a knife around the edge to loosen and invert onto a plate to serving. Garnish with some cream, if you feel like it.

If not serving immediately - refrigerate.