Crème Caramel

Awonderful dessert, which is in no way inferior to its sister the crème brûlée, but on the contrary has little sweetness and is therefore perfectly suited to elegantly finish even a heavy meal.

0,5L milk
0,25L cream
6 eggs
1 vanilla bean
zest of half an untreated lemon
70gr. Sugar for the cream

250gr sugar for the caramel

Mix the eggs (whites and yolks) with the sugar. The mixture should not be creamy, otherwise it may become grainy when baked.

Add the milk and cream to the mixture, stir again gently, do not beat until foamy. The egg and sugar should just blend into the mixture.

Add the vanilla pulp and the grated lemon. If you want to remove the black vanilla pulp from the mixture, pass it through a strainer.

Caramelize the sugar. It is best to use a heavy pot or pan for this. Heat the pan and add the sugar.
Now stir sparingly with a wooden spoon, the sugar will start to melt after a short time, if the mixture browns too quickly, remove from heat immediately.
To make the caramel more liquid, simply add a little water (be careful, the caramel will crystallize for a short time).
Alternative: Put half of the sugar in the casserole first, heat it until it has a faint yellow color, then add the 2nd half, this way you can control the color of the caramel!

Pour the caramel sauce into a rectangular glass mold, it hardens immediately at the bottom of the glass. Gently pour the crème over it.
The crème is now cooked in a water bath at 180° for 35-40min.
It is best to put it in the refrigerator for a few hours and serve it cold.

Here you can see a crème caramel poured into small ramekins. In the family ring, you are welcome to spare yourself this work.
With a large spoon the crème is lifted out, underneath hides the delicious caramel sauce.