Last week I announced my new series Cooking Through My Collection and I am so glad you all liked the idea. I think this series will be a lot of fun.
To start the series out I have a fun twist on a classic dessert. Today’s recipe is Lemon Custard. Custard is an old fashioned dessert that contains everyday ingredients. Today’s custard though is a little different because it contains lemon juice, which I think gives it a unique and very good flavor.
This recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks for basic everyday, yet modern cooking. The cookbook is How To Cook Everything
and it is full of simple and basic recipes, but with a modern twist.
It is kind of like a modern day Joy of Cooking or Betty Crocker Cookbook.
The recipes in How To Cook Everything are for real food with real ingredients. This cookbook covers so much information. From soups and salads, to grains and pasta, to fruits and vegetables and various desserts, this cookbook covers a ton of information.
It covers basic things like cooking eggs and pancakes, but it also deals with cooking some more unique ingredients like fennel and kohlrabi.
This is one of the cookbooks that I often turn to when I need a basic everyday recipe for fruits, vegetables, and sauces. This cookbook is over 900 pages, so it is not a small cookbook. I think this will be one of those cookbooks that becomes a classic. I can still see myself using and loving this cookbook in twenty years.
Does anyone else have this cookbook? I would love to hear your thoughts if you do?
Now for the Lemon Custard Recipe. We loved this custard and the best part of all is that it is naturally gluten free.
Lemon Custard
Lemon custard is a dessert that is a naturally gluten-free dessert that lemon lovers will love.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cream
- 1 cup milk
- 3 whole eggs
- 4 eggs yolks
- 3/4 cup sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon finely minced lemon zest ( I will admit I left this out, because several in my family don't like the texture it sometimes gives things.)
Instructions
- Place the cream or cream milk mixture in a small saucepan and heat just until it is steamy and heated, but not boiling.
- In a bowl use a whisk or an electric mixer to beat the eggs, egg yolks, salt, and sugar. Beat until pale yellow and thickened. It won't get really thick, but you do want it fairly thick. Then add lemon juice and zest if using.
- Heat several cups of water and set aside. This is for a water bath while the custard is baking.
- Gradually add hot cream to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.
- Pour mixture into 6 ramekins ( ramekins here is my tip on what to use
- Set ramekins into a larger 9x13 type pan. And place hot water into the outer pan. Pour in enough water so that the water is about 1 inch deep. You are basically creating a water bath here for the custard to cook in.
- Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. You want this to still be a little wobbly in the middle.
- Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold. We love it all three ways.
Notes
The original recipes uses 2 cups cream, but I like 1 cup milk and 1 cup cream.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 349Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 296mgSodium: 143mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 0gSugar: 27gProtein: 10g
Nutritional values are approximate and aren't always accurate.
This is recipe is from the book How To Cook Everything, but I did adapt the directions a little.
When do you add the lemon juice and zest?
Thank you for asking. I missed that step, but the recipe is fixed now. 🙂
Hi Lynn,
How to Cook Everything has been one of my favorite go to cookbooks for several years now. It’s a great resource for everyday and not so everyday inspiration.
Also, your lemon custard looks delicious. Guess I’ll have to make some this week.
Love your blog.
I have this cookbook too and use it often, especially for meat recipes/techniques. Haven’t tried the lemon custard yet, though!
I love custards and for me the easiest way of doing it is using 8 egg yolks, a can of condensed milk and a can of evaporated. No need to heat them in a saucepan, just mix them altogether gently to prevent bubbles. I then use the egg whites to make pavlova. You can use the whole eggs if you like but I prefer to only use the egg yolks because I like my custards rich and creamy.
sorry i meant, a can of evaporated milk.
I don’t understand how Marion can possibly think a can of condensed milk and a can of evaporated milk can possibly be better than using real cream, or cream and milk. We use raw milk and the cream on top is something which can’t be compared to the crappy store-bought canned stuff she talked about. But, to each his own. We avoid condensed milk because it’s mostly sugar.
Also, I may be old fashioned but I prefer Betty’s cookbook, any day of the week. I just go through all my 1960’s and 1970’s cookbooks and change out the yukky ingredients that were popular at that time (when boxed and canned foods were just getting their start – ewww) for more healthy choices. Nothing is healthier to use than real butter, real cream, real half ‘n half, real milk, real raw cheeses, etc. I also use pastured eggs so our lemon custard has a wonderfully yellow color. We like lemon everything around this house. I sprinkle the tops with nutmeg because I’m Swedish and I love the stuff on or in everything.