Nourishing Custard

I know the word custard just made a whole buncha people leave. I get it. Custard, Flan, Cream Brulee, it's not for everyone. It's a textural thing for lots of folks. I understand. I happen to love all things custardy.

I get in a breakfast rut. I eat a lot of eggs for breakfast, and try and stay away from carbs which is so hard cause almost all breakfast food is delicious carbs!! There are only a few kinds of breakfast cereal I'll eat because most are just a bowl full of sugar and GMO ingredients. When you think about it, not the best way to start the day off! So in my never ending quest to mix it up and not have the same 4 things for breakfast every morning I did a little online research and found this Nourishing Custard.

This is not a sweet custard that you'd have as a dessert, although if you wanted it to be all you would have to do is add more sweetener to it. I make up a batch of this on a Sunday so I'll have breakfast (and sometimes a snack) all week. For breakfast I'll mix in fresh fruits to really make it a meal, so a snack I'll add a little sweetener like a touch of maple syrup or a sprinkling of Truvia. It's enough to satisfy my sweet tooth and not send me into a sugar coma.

This has become a breakfast I look forward to! With all the fresh fruits that will be available soon I've already decided that I can cook some of them down and make a fruity syrup to mix into the custard. Possibilities endless! You could even call this pudding and I bet your little ones would love it!

This recipe makes a lot of custard, but you can easily half it. I like to make a big batch so I have it at the ready all week. Mix up your breakfast and try this silky custard!



BASIC NOURISHING CUSTARD
slightly adapted from a recipe at Eat Outside the Bag
PRINTABLE RECIPE
6 eggs, from pastured chickens
1/4 cup organic maple syrup or local raw honey (double this for sweeter custard)
2 teaspoons vanilla or 2 vanilla beans
4-6 sticks cinnamon
5 cups milk
dash of salt
ground nutmeg or cinnamon for top if desired

Preheat oven to 325 F for a dish or 350 for cups.

If you want extra healthful and flavorful custard, steep milk with vanilla beans and cinnamon sticks. You can skip this step but it makes the custard pretty darn tasty. Whisk eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla if using in bowl, stir in milk. Pour into a glass baking dish or six custard cups. Sprinkle top with nutmeg or cinnamon if desired. Set the baking dish(es) in a pan of hot water.  Containers nested in a rectangular glass baking dish for large single servings. Bake large dish at 325 degrees for 1 hour; bake cups at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. Custard is done when a knife inserted off-center comes out clean. Serve warm or cold, add an extra drizzle of maple syrup if you want it sweeter.

You can also make this even more healthful by adding some pumpkin to make pumpkin custard. Essentially all you need to do is swap out half the milk for pureed pumpkin. What a wonderful way to get a serving of vegetables first thing in the morning.