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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Recipes / Special Diets / GAPS Recipes / Russian Custard (best substitute for dairy cream)

Russian Custard (best substitute for dairy cream)

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

Jump to Recipe

How to make nutritious Russian Custard, an easy to make, traditional substitute for dairy cream in all your savory or sweet recipes.

russian custard whipped in a stainless bowl

When my husband and I were on the (temporary) GAPS Diet to improve our gut health, one of our favorite treats hands down was Russian Custard. It is an excellent substitute for dairy cream and works well for any recipe which uses it. Coconut cream is also a good sub, but not everyone enjoys the flavor of coconut.

Cream, if you recall, is not permitted on the GAPS Diet as it is contains lactose (milk sugar), which is a disaccharide (double sugar) which cannot be digested in a compromised gut environment. 

Once the gut heals, of course, lactose can be digested easily so avoidance of cream is only a temporary measure.

In addition to fruit, Russian Custard can be served on its own or with a handful of chopped raw nuts soaked in salt water and dehydrated, to vastly improve digestibility.  You can also use sprouted nuts if you are short on time (sources).

The key to Russian Custard is the quality of the eggs you use. 

Egg yolks are extremely nutritious and easily digested.

Deep yellow to orange colored egg yolks are one of the highest food sources of choline, a critical nutrient that protects the liver from overconsumption of sugar, refined carbohydrates, and polyunsaturated vegetable oils.

Use of good quality egg yolks in the diet is a very wise investment of your food budget dollars.

Make sure to buy the best quality eggs you can afford and purchase them locally so that you are supporting family farms in your area.

Don’t tolerate eggs that well? You can make cashew cream as a nondairy substitute as well.

This recipe is adapted from Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD.

russian custard
3.5 from 2 votes
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Russian Custard Recipe

Easy recipe for Russian custard that is a delicious and nourishing substitute for dairy cream in all your favorite recipes. Delicious on its own with nuts or fruit as well.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 118 kcal
Author Sarah Pope

Ingredients

  • 8 eggs preferably pastured
  • 4 tsp raw honey preferably local
  • sprouted nuts optional, chopped
  • fresh fruit optional, chopped

Instructions

  1. Wash eggs gently in warm, soapy water and then dry.  

  2. Separate egg whites from yolks and set whites aside. In a glass bowl, add the honey to the egg yolks and whip until the mixture thickens and the color lightens to a pale yellow.

  3. Serve immediately with fruit or nuts or add to recipe of choice in place of cream.

  4. Be sure to refrigerate any Russian custard leftovers, which will last several days.

Recipe Notes

If keto or ultra low carb, reduce or substitute the honey with a few drops of stevia extract.

Nutrition Facts
Russian Custard Recipe
Amount Per Serving (2 Tbl)
Calories 118 Calories from Fat 81
% Daily Value*
Fat 9g14%
Saturated Fat 3.2g16%
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.4g
Monounsaturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 420mg140%
Sodium 16mg1%
Potassium 38mg1%
Carbohydrates 4g1%
Protein 5.4g11%
Vitamin A 433IU9%
Calcium 44mg4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

What to Do with Leftover Egg Whites

Use up those egg whites from making this cream substitute by making protein cookies or grain free angel food cake!

More Healthy Pudding Recipes

Egg Custard Pudding
Vanilla Pudding Recipe
Bread and Butter Pudding
Jello Pudding
Macademia Nut Pudding
Coconut Milk Pudding
Thai Custard
Homemade Chocolate Pudding

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Category: Dairy Free Recipes, Egg Recipes, GAPS Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Paleo Recipes, Pudding Recipes
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: the bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (33)

  1. Sylvia

    Feb 1, 2014 at 5:58 pm

    Raw egg?
    What about the food poisoning we are hearing about?
    I don’t have chickens in my yard; I buy the best eggs I can find at the store.
    Anyone have experience with this?

    Reply
    • Clare

      Feb 5, 2014 at 9:23 pm

      The problem with most commercial eggs is that the chickens in CAFOs are miserably unhealthy. Their immune systems are compromised, and the chicken actually produces a protective layer that dries on the egg shell after laying. If the chicken is sick, it will likely have salmonella poisoning itself. This is why American CAFO produced eggs are always washed on site. The problem with washing, however, is that the protective layer, now compromised by the chicken being sick, allows the salmonella to rest on the surface of the shell. Once the consumer gets the egg home and cracks it, the salmonella then contaminates the egg. If you buy organic eggs from locally farm-raised chickens, more than likely the chickens are happy and healthy, and aren’t living in a state of salmonella poisoning. The washing of the eggs just sanitizes them completely on the outside to prevent any bacterial contamination of any kind. Fun Fact: Other countries treat their chickens so well, they can leave the eggs unrefrigerated up to a month, and Americans are the only ones who need to wash eggs. That was two fun facts for one!

    • Natalie

      Jun 23, 2015 at 5:47 pm

      EXACTLY! Well said.

  2. Megan

    Feb 1, 2014 at 5:03 pm

    Thanks for this Sarah, I am going to try this!

    Reply
  3. Linda Kruhmin via Facebook

    Feb 1, 2014 at 3:07 pm

    did not know that egg yolks could be used this way!

    Reply
  4. Amanda McCandliss via Facebook

    Feb 1, 2014 at 1:20 pm

    This is great! Thanks.

    Reply
  5. Megan

    Jan 13, 2013 at 8:11 pm

    If you make a batch of this, how long can you store it in the fridge? Can you just re-whip it the next day to fluff it again?

    Reply
  6. Bev

    Nov 6, 2012 at 2:10 pm

    I Love how you summarized the soaking of nuts in 4 simple sentences. This is very much needed since I am overwhelmed sometimes with work and home and cannot bring myself to re-read nourishing traditions. Thanks for summing it up simply! I am going to try soaking nuts for the first time!

    Reply
  7. Sarah

    Oct 13, 2012 at 11:53 pm

    Hi Sarah! Thanks for this recipe. My family just enjoyed some tonight, and it is perfect for the GAPS diet. I was wondering, what did you do with all your egg whites while you were on the GAPS diet since the two recipes you mention call for ingredients not permitted on the GAPS diet? Thanks so much.

    Reply
    • Nancy

      Aug 31, 2014 at 4:50 pm

      When I have egg whites left over, I make macaroons. You can google GAPS macaroons. You could also make a merengue topping for something else, maybe a clafoutis?

  8. Jaime

    Sep 9, 2012 at 5:14 am

    I know that this is an older post, but had to reply as I only stumbled across it the other day and I have just tried it. I was out of cream to have on my baked apples (and can’t source any raw cream anyway, so always feel like pasteurised cream is such a huge compromise!) so I tried your Russian Custard and LOVED IT! Been eating WAP style for nearly a year now and your website has made it so easy! Thankyou so much!!

    Reply
    • Terri

      Dec 11, 2013 at 12:27 am

      So glad you like it on baked apples! That’s what I was thinking of using it for. Growing up my grandmother always served baked apples with ‘custard’, but it was the Birds’ mix which is basically cornstarch and sugar mixed with warmed milk. I can imagine that this would be a pretty good substitute, except that the Birds’ is served *warm* — do you think this mixture could be warmed a bit to go over the hot apples, or is it just as good cold? Thanks!

  9. Olga

    Sep 29, 2011 at 4:46 pm

    Thanks a lot for the link on how to use leftover eggwhites!!! It’s very helpfull. And tasty 🙂

    Reply
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