Spanish Caramel Custard • Crema Catalana

For today we have a very typical Spanish sweet, in fact a traditional sweet from the region of Catalonia, basically it’s a variation on a custard, perhaps a little dense because it uses cornstarch in addition to egg yolks to thicken it, however the crema catalana is above all known for its toasted caramelized sugar coating on top, for this you need a sugar burner or a kitchen blowtorch, this recipe makes +/- 8 portions.

Spanish Caramel Custard • Crema Catalana

Servings: 8
Time: 50mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
Print

A traditional Spanish sweet, crema catalana is a variation on a typical custard with a delicious layer of toasted caramel on top.

Ingredients

Milk – 1lt (1000ml)
Cream – 100ml
Cinnamon – 1 stick
Orange – 1 Peel
Lemon – 1 Peel
Egg Yolks – 6
Brown Sugar – 180gr
Corn Starch – 90gr (Maizena)
Sugar – To sprinkle and caramelize

Directions

Start by adding the milk, cream, cinnamon sticks, orange and lemon peels to a saucepan. Bring to a simmer until it starts to boil, doing this to infuse the cream with the aromas of cinnamon, orange and lemon.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until you have a whitish cream, then add the cornstarch and beat again until you have a very smooth mixture.
After the milk has boiled for about 5 minutes, remove from the heat and remove the cinnamon stick and the lemon and orange peels.
Now, stirring constantly, pour spoonfuls of the hot milk into the cream with the egg yolks. Do this to warm up the egg yolks and prevent them from curdling. When the cream with the egg yolks is hot, pour it back into the pan with the hot milk and bring everything back to a simmer.
Stirring slowly, it will take a while, but you’ll see that at a certain point it will start to thicken. Let it cook for another 2 minutes, then remove it and pour it into small bowls.
Leave to cool and then refrigerate for at least 2 or 3 hours before serving.
When it’s time to serve, cover with sugar and use a blowtorch to toast and caramelize the top of the jam, I prefer a thin, crispy layer but the more traditional Spanish version has a very thick coating of sugar, you can adjust this by adding more or less sugar and that’s it, ready to serve, bon appetit!

Notes: You can swap the brown sugar or normal sugar for demerara sugar to create a slightly more rustic version. You can also leave the cinnamon sticks and the peels in. I like to do this with custard, it’s a bit of a surprise ;D

This recipe for Spanish Caramel Custard • Crema Catalana was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Crema Catalana Espanhola foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.