Custard

[Liviam]

I am trying to get into making as much as I can from as close to scratch. DD absolutely loves custard with fruit but I have no idea how to make real custard.
So how do I make custard?? I'm praying it isn't hard.
TIA,
Dan.

[Netix]

Is with custard powder close enough to 'from scratch'?

Otherwise its egg yolk, cornflour I think, bit of sugar, and milk. Not very hard though. Can find a from scratch recipe if you like...

[sangie]

Hey hun. Here is recipe for egg-yolk custard. It makes about 3/4 cup.

2/3 cup milk
pinch ground cinnamon
1 egg yolk
2 tsp white sugar
1 tsp cornflour

Bring milk and cinnamon to a boil in a small saucepan; remove from heat
Whisk yolk, sugar and cornflour in small bowl until combined
Pour milk mixture over yolk mixture, whisking continuously until combined
Return mix to same saucepan, cook stirring over low heat until mixture just boils and thickens
Remove from heat; cover surface of custard with plastic wrap.
Cool to room temp

[Janie]

I'm no custard snob but remember that custard powder usually has yellow colouring in it, so if your child is sensitive to additives, it might not be a great idea .

I just heat some milk, vanilla bean, and raw sugar, then whisk in some egg yolk. It's always kind of a rush job, and I don't have a recipe I use, just guess quantities. So if it doesn't thicken as much as I want it to, then I add some cornflour to help it along (after it has been mixed with milk of course).

Sorry, that's very vague I'm sure taste dot com would have a recipe you could try

ETA Oh, it's not at all hard! Might take you a couple of goes to get comfortable doing it, that's all, and it's best done with a whisk. And remember that it will thicken a little after being refrigerated.

[Netix]

I do have a question re custard, how do you stop it from going lumpy when it goes cold?

[Olive]

dan i often make a baked custard with apple and sultanas in it, let me know if your interested and i'll find you the recipe, its similar ingrediants to sangies one, just baked!

[SweetPea]

ooooo I've been looking for a custard recipe. Mum used to do a baked custard but threw out the recipe. Does anyone know of a good baked custard?

[Liviam]

Oh yummy!! Thanks for the replies ladies. Hopefully I'll get a chance to make some today. I'm just so sick of all the additives and other nasties on the ingredients list that i don't even know what they are! Olivia I would love your baked custard receipe - sounds delicious. I know they can't be avoided but I'm trying to limit them all and see if that helps with my kiddies terrible exczema. So am I right in assuming that if I want to use make more of Sangie's custard I would increase the ingredients - like if I want to make double quantity I would double the ingredients? I'm so new to cooking that some of my questions are embarrassing, LOL!!

[Pandora]

WRT food colours - some brands of the powder have red colour as well as yellow.

Liviam - not sure, I hope she comes in to reply. Not all recipes double so you can either give it a try or wait to see if she has done it before.

[Janie]

Hey D, I always figure it can't hurt to try (doubling that is), but if it's something you're new to, sometimes it's easier to make a smaller batch to start with, until you're comfortable with the technique. Also, that way, if for some reason it doesn't work out as you'd hoped, you're not as annoyed at wasting all those ingredients!!!!!

Have fun experimenting hun, it's loads of fun!!! And don't feel silly to ask questions, those of us who love and adore cooking are only too happy to help out

[sangie]

Dan I've never tried to double it, I make it for Elena and its more than enough for her. I can't see any reason why doubling wouldn't work though? But like Janie said maybe try a single batch first. I'm trying to do more things from scratch too, just wish I had more time to experiment! Good luck, let us know how it goes!