I finally woke up early enough (and determined enough) this morning to go to my 10:00 power yoga class at Healthworks in Back Bay. It was my first yoga class in four months! Let's just say, I got my ass kicked this morning. I could barely raise my arms after it but I am definitely planning on going back to yoga regularly this semester.
I did not have time to eat breakfast this morning so I was really looking forward to having dim sum ("yum cha") later in the afternoon with one of my best buddies. We've known each other since I was 13 and due to work, school, life, we haven't seen each other in a while, so some catching up was much needed. Instead of going to Chinatown, fighting over parking, and beating the crowds - we went to the China Pearl in Quincy. The place is huge, has plenty of parking, and no wait!
But all I could think about was the egg custard pastry... I remember always wanting one every time we were in Chinatown so today, I am taking on the mission to make some w/o the puff pastry. It's healthier. :)
The ingredients are simple. You will just need milk, egg yolks, and sugar. Just make sure everything is at room temperature so let the milk and eggs sit out for a bit, if not, the custard will break. However, I'm always on the more daring side and added a pinch of nutmeg and vanilla extract to my custard. My apartment smells amazing right now.
Okay, go pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees STAT!
Pour two cups of milk and a dash of vanilla extra into a sauce pan and turn up to medium heat. I turned mine up to a 4. You want the milk to be warm to the touch, not hot.
My measuring spoon says, "just a pinch", how cute.
Separate 6 egg yolks from whites. This is usually how I do it but you can also run it through your fingers or use an egg separator, if you have one.
Egg whites! Sweet. I am going to freeze this and use it some other day.
Add sugar and just a pinch of nutmeg. Yes, I am still using the splenda/brown sugar blend. Whisk until smooth but don't over beat.
Test your milk. Turn off heat. It's okay to leave the pot on the warm stove unless the milk is really hot, then take it off.
Now pour in the egg yolk mixture slowly and whisk at the same time. Sorry, I couldn't take a photo of my pouring and whisking. I tried, it just wasn't possible. :( Just imagine here that I was whisking at the same time that I was pouring that in.
You want to whisk constantly but lightly until the mixture is blended and smooth. Remove any bubbles. You want to do this for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is nice and warm.
It should look something like this once you're done. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before baking.
Set up two baking dishes and pour about a 1/2 inch of water into them. You can use muffin tins, custard cups, whatever you like, to bake the custard. Just place those cups in the baking dish and cover it in tin foil. Then bake for 20-30 minutes depending on how thick you pour it and to what consistency you prefer. You can take them out after the 20 minute mark to check on the consistency then decide whether or not to cook more (if you want to cook more, remove tin foil) or not at all. I baked mine for 30 minutes.
If you like the custard to brown like what you sometimes see at the bakery then bake it uncovered.
I like it better cool so you can refrigerate it for a bit before you serve it. The little specks are from the nutmeg. You can get the yellowish color by adding food color.
Enjoy!!!
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