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Espresso Creme Caramel Recipe - America's Test Kitchen
Though you can make one large creme caramel, we find that custards baked in individual ramekins cook faster, are more evenly textured, and unmold more easily. You can vary the amount of sugar in the custard to suit your taste. Most tasters preferred the full two-thirds cup, but you can reduce that amount to as little as one-half cup to create a greater contrast between the custard and the sweetness of the caramel. Cook the caramel in a pan with a light-colored interior, since a dark surface makes it difficult to judge the color of the syrup. Caramel can leave a real mess in a pan, but it is easy to clean. Simply boil lots of water in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes to loosen the hardened caramel. Espresso beans ground in a coffee grinder will be too fine and impart too strong a coffee flavor to the custard. Instead, crush the beans lightly with the bottom of a heavy saucepan.
Espresso Creme Caramel
Serves 8
What many people love about crème caramel is the caramel. And while we can't deny its appeal, what most concerned us when we decided to embark on a search for a really great crème caramel was the custard.
For us, what made a perfect crème caramel was texture. We wanted a custard that was creamy and tender enough to melt in our mouths, yet firm enough to unmold without collapsing on the serving plate. We were also looking for a mellow flavor that was neither too rich nor too eggy.
The most important part of the recipe, we discovered, is the proportion of egg whites to egg yolks. Too many whites produced a rubbery, almost solid custard; too few and our custard collapsed. The choice of liquid was next, and because we were making a classic crème caramel, our choices were limited to milk, heavy cream, light cream, and half-and-half. Equal parts milk and light cream gave us just the amount of rich creaminess we wanted, acting as a foil to any egginess. Creating a custard that's creamy and smooth also depends on maintaining a gentle heating environment; this was provided by baking the custard in a water bath, a traditional procedure for custard.
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