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Caramel Pots De Crème

By Dorie Greenspan

Caramel Pots De Crème
Craig Lee for The New York Times
Total Time
1 hour
Rating
4(326)
Comments
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All the textbooks say the same thing: cooking granulated sugar until it turns into caramel involves complex chemistry. And I'm sure they are right. But I'm just as sure that what turns sugar into caramel is magic. Not only is caramel simple, but it is also versatile. Caramelized sugar mixed with butter and cream makes candies soft as taffy or hard as lollipops; thinned with water, it makes a glaze; thinned with cream, it makes a sauce; added to chocolate, it provides complexity; and added to custards, it can provide all the flavor needed for a spoon dessert. This luscious, golden pudding is a perfect example.

Featured in: That Old Caramel Magic Is All in the Color

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Ingredients

Yield:8 servings
  • 2cups heavy cream
  • 1cup whole milk
  • ¾cup sugar
  • 5large egg yolks
  • 2large eggs
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

346 calories; 26 grams fat; 16 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 22 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 22 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 52 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Center a rack in oven, and heat to 300 degrees. Put 8 4-ounce custard cups or ramekins in a large roasting pan, and set aside. Combine cream and milk, and warm them in a microwave oven or on the stove top.

  2. Step 2

    Measure out ¼ cup sugar, and set aside. Place a heavy-bottom metal pot over medium-high heat, and sprinkle in about 2 tablespoons sugar. As soon as sugar melts and starts to caramelize, stir. When color is uniform, stir in 2 more tablespoons sugar, and continue to stir until it is melted and colored. Continue with remaining sugar. When all sugar is mahogany color, stand away from pot, and stir in warm liquid bit by bit. Mixture will bubble furiously and may form lumps; stir to smooth it out. Remove from heat.

  3. Step 3

    Place yolks, eggs and reserved ¼ cup sugar in a very large measuring cup with a lip, and whisk to blend. Still whisking, stir in caramel liquid. Skim off foam, and fill custard cups. Set into roasting pan and pour enough hot tap water into pan to come halfway up sides of cups. Cover pan with plastic wrap or foil, poke 2 holes in opposite corners, and bake 35 to 40 minutes or until tops darken and custards jiggle a little in center when tapped. Cool custards in refrigerator; serve at room temperature.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
326 user ratings
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Comments

Emily

"Cover pan with plastic wrap or foil [...] and bake" - surely not cover with plastic wrap in the oven?

Justyn

I recommend cooking the caramel almost to the point of being burnt. It will transfer the caramel taste much better into the final product. I also find that adding a little bourbon helps add to the depth of flavor!

Margaux Laskey, Staff Editor

It does work, but if you'd prefer, you can use foil. That's what our testers used.

coinkitchen

I made this for a birthday party. I divided across 6 ramekins and it took about 70 minutes of cooking total. I found the caramel directions needlessly complicated, counting out tablespoons to come to the 8 in total. I let the caramel go longer, but if I made it again I would let it go even longer, until it was smoking—the caramel flavor is there in the finished product, but it wasn’t deep or complex. Overall, my guests were delighted, but it was a lot of work.

Zac

I made this with coffee infused in the creme as she suggests In the book- and foolishly put this in the oven covered In plastic wrap! Obviously it melted, but doesn’t appear to have ruined the final product. Use foil and peek after 30 minutes, depending on your ramekin size

Margaret S

I used plastic wrap (Glad cling) and it melted into strings after 15-20 minutes. Luckily (most of) the melted plastic stayed out of the puddings.

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