White Chocolate Custard With Strawberries. Dessert For Valentine's Day.

 

Super creamy, smooth and amazingly good, also looks so pretty with some sliced strawberries for garnish. Ready in say about 45 minutes to an hour for you and your loved ones to savor. Need I say more to convince you to make this for Valentine's Day? Spoiler - I am not a believer in these days really, but it's a great excuse to make dessert and make use of those pretty strawberries this time of the year. 

I love baked custards, I just can't get enough of the creamy smoothness! If white chocolate is not your thing, you can try these . It is a bit of effort baking these in a water bath, but it is absolutely worth it. If baking in a water bath for the first time, please watch my video here about preparing a water bath. It is an extremely simple but helpful technique in baking.

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White Chocolate Custard With Strawberries.

Ingredients. Weigh ingredients for best results. I made half the recipe below, it gave me 4 small portions. 

Full fat milk 3/4 cup / 180 ml

Cream 3/4 cup / 180 ml ( I used Amul 25%)

White Chocolate 115 grams, finely chopped (do not use compound chocolate)

Sugar 1/4 cup / 50 grams

Vanilla extract 2 teaspoons

Egg yolks, at room temperature.  4 large / 72 grams 

Sliced fresh strawberries for garnish (optional)

Getting ready:

Assemble a  heavy saucepan with a handle,  plus another large bowl with a wide base, a large fine mesh strainer, a whisk, a spatula. You will need 8 small 80 ml capacity ramekins or oven proof bowls. If using ramekins of different capacity the baking time will vary. Small portions are better.

We need a baking tin with high sides. The tin has to fit the ramekins without crowding them in, but not too much empty space otherwise. This is particularly important if baking in a convection microwave as your ramekins will swim in the water as the turntable rotates.

Place a small kitchen towel to cover the bottom of the tin, then place the ramekins in the baking tin. 

Have some very hot water on sim on your stove, better more than less. A tea kettle will be perfect! We need enough water to come halfway up the ramekins when we put them in the oven later.

Have on hand a pair of mittens or thick kitchen towels.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C / 320 degrees F.
Take the milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and white chocolate in the saucepan. 
• In the wide based bowl, whisk the egg yolks and keep it ready. Do not leave it sitting for too long as a film will develop over the yolks. 
• Heat the milk mixture over low heat, keep stirring, we need the chocolate to melt. We do not need the mixture to boil, just hot. 
• Whisking constantly dribble the hot chocolate mixture into the egg yolks. Dribble all of it gradually. If you rush this process the eggs will curdle.
  
Strain the custard through the strainer back into the saucepan.
• Pour the custard into the ramekins just a little below the rim. The custard doesn't rise, it just sets as it bakes.
• Place the baking tin in the oven. Using the kettle, taking care not to splash the water into the ramekins, carefully pour the hot water in the baking tin so that it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
• Bake the custard in the water bath for about 25-30 minutes or until the center appears set, but jiggly when you gently shake the ramekins. The baking time depends on the size of your ramekins and your oven, so watch carefully from 25 minutes onwards. Do not over bake or your custard may turn rubbery. Err on the side of under baking as the custard will set further on refrigeration. I normally remove the ramekins from the water bath soon after as I do not want to risk the custard to cooking further in the hot water.
• Cool the custards to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight for best results. David Lebovitz suggests serving these slightly warm or at room temperature. We liked it chilled. 
• Please note : The baking time is very important for the best texture of the custards. The custard  may appear to need more baking (but it should not be liquid or gooey)  if you spoon out some when warm, but it will set well on refrigeration. So slight under-baking is better than over-baking.
  
  If baking in a very small OTG (not microwave) there is a risk of uneven baking, a convection microwave works better here as your tin rotates while baking.  
• Watch a video clip of the texture of these custards and lots more on my  Instagram stories soon!