Third time’s the charm, I guess!
After two disastrous Magazine Mondays in a row, I finally hit a home run with this one. This recipe had to be tweaked a little, but I thought it was great, and both Dennis and my work wife, Tracy, thought it was good. Hooray!
There’s a lot of sadness and weirdness in the world right now, so why not give yourself a minute to enjoy a rich, fairly easy dessert?
Sticky Honey-Pineapple Custards
Makes 4 custards
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups half-and-half
5 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1 can pineapple rings (or you can use fresh pineapple. I just didn’t have the patience.)
Kosher or sea salt (optional)
Preheat oven to 325°F and heat a small pot of water to boiling.
In a small saucepan, heat the half-and-half over medium heat until bubbly. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, 1 Tbsp. honey, and vanilla until just combined. Whisk in the hot half-and-half.
Place 4 ramekins (mine are 4 oz.) in a roasting pan. Pour the custard in the ramekins. Place the pan on the oven rack and pour the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the ramekins.
Here’s the part where the recipe & I differ. It says that if you’re using shallow dishes, you should bake for 20-25 minutes, and if you’re using deep dishes, it should be from 35 to 40 minutes. However, my shallow dishes took a total of 55 minutes. So start out with 25 minutes, and check them every 10 minutes thereafter if they need more time
You’ll know they’re finished when you insert a knife near the center, and it comes out clean, while the center jiggles slightly.
Remove the dishes from the water and place on a cooling rack, then cover and chill for 1 to 8 hours.
Before serving, in a large skillet, heat the remaining honey and the pineapple slices. Bring the honey to a low boil over medium heat and boil, uncovered, for 15 minutes until the honey has thickened and darkened and the pineapple is tender.
Place a pineapple ring on each custard, drizzle with pineapple-infused honey, and sprinkle with salt if you want it.
