Light Crème Caramel

📝 Ingredients

• 80 g caster sugar for the caramel
• 600 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 5 eggs
• 60 g caster sugar for the custard
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 litre boiling water for the bain-marie

🍴 Utensils

• Small heavy-based saucepan
• Saucepan
• 6 ramekins (about 200 ml each)
• Whisk
• Fine sieve
• Deep ovenproof dish

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 150 °C. Arrange the 6 ramekins side by side in the ovenproof dish and boil 1 litre of water in the kettle for the bain-marie.
2. For the caramel, pour the 80 g sugar in an even layer into the small saucepan and heat over a medium heat without stirring. When it starts to melt at the edges, gently swirl the pan to spread the melted sugar, without ever putting a spoon in it.
3. As soon as the caramel has completely melted and is amber in colour, like dark honey, take it off the heat: 10 seconds too long and it turns bitter. Immediately pour it into the ramekins, tilting them to coat the bottom. Careful, it's scalding hot.
4. In the saucepan, heat the milk with the vanilla over a medium heat until it simmers, without letting it boil. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, the 60 g sugar and the salt just enough to combine them, without making them frothy.
5. Pour the hot milk onto the eggs in a thin stream, whisking gently and continuously so the eggs don't scramble. Strain the mixture through the fine sieve and skim off the foam with a spoon: that's the secret to a really smooth custard.
6. Divide the custard between the ramekins, over the hardened caramel. Place the dish on the oven rack, then pour the hot water into the dish until it comes halfway up the ramekins, taking care not to splash any into the custard.
7. Close the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. The custards are done when they are set at the edges but still slightly wobbly in the centre. If they bubble or puff up, the oven is too hot: lower it by 10 °C.
8. Lift the ramekins out of the bain-marie with a tea towel and leave them to cool to room temperature, then chill for at least 3 hours. In the fridge the custard firms up and the caramel, absorbing its moisture, turns liquid again.
9. To turn out, run the blade of a thin knife all around each custard, place a dessert plate on top of the ramekin and flip it over in one quick movement. Lift off the ramekin: the caramel runs over the custard.