Trifle Custard

By DrGaellon on March 13, 2008

• Prep Time: 2 mins
• Total Time: 17 mins
• Yield: 4 cups

About This Recipe

Makes enough for one large trifle (using a trifle bowl 10" wide by 5" deep). See English Trifle."

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise and scraped
• 6 egg yolks
• 6 ounces granulated sugar ( by weight, almost a cup by volume)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

1. Place milk, cream and vanilla pod/seeds into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the yolks with the sugar and cornflour until smooth and pale.
3. Pour the boiled cream/milk/vanilla mixture over the egg yolks, trickling at first, whisking all the time to temper the eggs.
4. Return the mix to the saucepan (some people think you should rinse it first), then cook over a gentle heat, whisking or stirring with a wooden spoon until it thickens sufficiently to coat the back of a spoon. Do not boil your custard – it will split. If it looks suspiciously curdle-y, lift it off the heat and whisk firmly.
5. Pass through a fine sieve and cool thoroughly in the fridge.

Pecan cookies with chocolate and caramel drizzle

Chef Louis Prpich, owner of the Chowder House Café in Cuyahoga Falls, is back to work this fall after spending most of the year in and out of the hospital. He was diagnosed with polyarteritis nodosa, a disease in which the blood vessels become inflamed, causing injury to the organs.
These cookies are crazy good. They were one of the things that helped pull me through this illness.
MY MOM’S SCRUMPTIOUS COOKIES
½ cup butter, softened
1½ cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1½ cups flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2 cups chopped pecans
Chocolate and caramel toppings (recipes follow)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients except pecans and mix well.
In large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, then add egg and vanilla and combine.
Add dry ingredients and blend well. Mix in pecans.
Roll dough into 2-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie trays 2 inches apart. Take a fork and lightly press until the ball is pressed halfway down.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before topping. Drizzle tops with caramel and chocolate toppings.
Makes about 2 dozen.

CARAMEL TOPPING (consider skipping and using just the chocolate as this is too sweet)
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup heavy cream
½ cup powdered sugar

In a saucepan, bring heavy cream and brown sugar to a simmer. Whisking lightly, slowly add powdered sugar a little at a time, so as not to let it knot up on you.
Drizzle this immediately on the cookies with a fork. Tilt the saucepan while doing so. If sauce begins to harden, return to heat and let it soften.

CHOCOLATE TOPPING
2 semisweet chocolate squares (1 oz. each)
2 tbsp. unsalted butter

Microwave the chocolate and butter 1 to 2 minutes until melted, and stir until smooth.
Drizzle on cookies with a fork.