Martha's Custard + House of J Signature Caramel Topping= MMMMM

If I would have known that this dessert would have come out so yummy on the first try, I would have taken more photos during the process. So i apologize ahead of time for the lack of photography here..

If you are still with me...

I made an awesome vanilla custard last night. I try to make a dessert of some kind on weekends as a nice treat during a movie, or Sunday night HBO, like True Blood. (did you see Sookie and Alcid OMG). I didn't want something super heavy like cake, and I don't like making a whole batch of something unless I know I can pawn some away on visitors. I thought custard would be a summery, chilled treat and the recipe only made 4 servings, which was perfect for the weekend.

I started off with Martha Stewart's Vanilla Custard recipe. Here

But I made a few adjustments..The first adjustment is to boil the water that fills your roasting pan. Heating the water in the oven while it preheats didn't make it hot enough and will elongate cook time.

Another tip is to add another teaspoon of vanilla extract in the egg yolk mixture as well. This is especially important if you are using extract instead of the fresh scraped bean. Vanilla beans are $14.00 for 3 in a little jar at shoprite. I used the extract.

I also recommend cooking the full 30 minutes.

To add my own little twist I wanted to serve with a caramel sauce drizzle. Finding a good caramel sauce recipe was near impossible. I finally found one that looked great and seemed easy enough but it missed on some key elements and in the garbage it went..I've saved you the trouble :)

So I said to myself..."Mrs. J, you make your own dang caramel sauce" and I did.


It has a multitude of uses and as long as its kept air tight you can keep it in your fridge for weeks. 


Here goes... Start with 1 cup each of milk and heavy cream in a sauce pan on the lowest heat. You could use 1 scraped vanilla bean but like I said before, $14.00, man. I used 2 teaspoons extract, right in with the simmering milk and cream. In another sauce pan put in 1 cup granulated sugar on low heat. 


As the sugar dissolves and melts into a nice amber hue, use a metal spoon or spatula to keep it from sticking to the sides and bottom. This requires a constant eye. Continue to scrape and stir until all the sugar has liquefied. By now your milk and cream should be close to a boil, remove sugar and milk from heat and SLOWLY pour the milk mixture into the melted sugar. It will bubble up so go SLOW! Continuously stir the mixture while combining so that the sugar does not harden.


If your mixture hardens a bit, return to stove on lowest heat and stir until it melts again. Once combined, add in 1 teaspoon sea salt and 1 teaspoon vanilla and whisk until smoothed. Put in air tight canning jar or a squeeze bottle for convenience. I used the Wilton candy melting squeeze bottle because it's easy to clean. 1 recipe filled entire bottle. 


 Pour over custard, and in your coffee the next morning. 

 Or over a big bowl of frozen yogurt.
Enjoy!!