Crème Anglaise Recipe
Rich, silky vanilla custard sauce to pour over cakes and desserts.
Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 6 (6 Large) Egg Yolks
- 65 g (1⅓ cup) White Sugar, 65g
- 1 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) Vanilla Bean Paste, or a vanilla pod, split and scraped
- 480 ml (2 cups) Whole Milk, 480ml
Instructions
- Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until thick and pale (about 30 seconds).
- Heat the milk and vanilla in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it is scalding hot - this means there will be steam rising from it and tiny bubbles appearing on the surface. Do not let the milk boil.
- Slowly drizzle a small amount of the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture and whisk it in, continue adding the milk a little at a time to bring the temperature of the eggs up slowly and avoid scrambling them. (This is called tempering).
- Once all the milk has been added, pour the custard back into the saucepan and return to the heat. Stir constantly until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove from the heat and pass it through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, just in case there are any lumps.
- Cover with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic touches the surface of the custard. Let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until ready to use it.
Notes
Ingredient Notes
Egg Yolks - It's best to use fresh eggs and separate them, rather than using box eggs. You can keep the whites for one of these leftover egg white recipes.
Vanilla - If using a vanilla pod, add the seeds and pod to the milk before heating. Remove the pod before tempering the eggs.
If using vanilla bean paste or extract, stir it into the finished custard after removing it from the heat.
Dairy - This is a classic French crème anglaise, which uses all milk. For a more indulgent custard sauce, you can replace up to half of the milk with heavy cream. I chose to stick with milk for this recipe as it makes a slightly lighter sauce that complements the desserts it is paired with, without being too rich.