A French classic.
Ingredients
For: 6 people
Prep time: 60 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
For the caramel
- 100 g sugar
- 3 tbsp water optional
For the custard
- 500 mL whole fat milk
- 2 whole eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 80 g white sugar ½ cup
For the shortbread biscuit
- 215 g butter unsalted
- 1 pinch salt
- 100 g caster sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 250 g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
Make the caramel:
- Put the granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan, ensure the sugar and water is mixed
- Cook over a medium to high heat without stirring for about about 10 minutes
- When light to medium brown, remove from the heat and pour directly into 6 ramekins.
Make the custard:
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/340°F (150°C fan/Gas 3).
- Pour the milk into a medium saucepan and add the vanilla.
- Over medium heat, bring the milk to the simmer.
- While the milk is heating up, place the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a medium sized mixing bowl.
- Whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar vigorously until the mix has become pale.
- Pour in the vanilla milk onto the egg mix and whisk gently just until combined.
- Place the ramekins in a large roasting dish.
- Pour the warm thin custard over the caramel in each ramekin, filling near to the top.
- Place the roasting tin in the middle of the oven and pour in warm-hot water into the roasting dish half way to the height of the ramekins to create a bain marie.
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until set and remove from the oven carefully.
- Remove the ramekins onto a cooling rack and when chilled to room temperature, transfer to the fridge covered with a clean cloth for at least 2 hours or ideally overnight.
Make the sablé biscuits:
- Put the butter, caster and icing sugars in a large bowl and beat together until pale and fluffy.
- Stir in the vanilla then add the egg yolks one at a time, combining each egg into the mix before adding the next
- Stir in the sieved flour and combine carefully.
- Once the dough starts to clump together, bring it together into a ball.
- Roll out the dough to about half an inch or just over a centimetre thick.
- Cut out the biscuits to your desired shape and place a couple of centimetres apart on a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Chill the biscuits on the tray for about 30 minutes before cooking.
- Preheat the oven to 170 degree Celsius fan / Gas 5 and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly golden.
To serve:
- Carefully run a small knife around the edges of each ramekins.
- In a swift movement, turn each ramekins up side down onto a dessert plate.
- Spoon out all the caramel on top and serve with a couple of sable biscuit.
