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 high in 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 the 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).
Never soaked nuts before? It’s a snap. Just mix 1 TBL sea salt in enough filtered water to cover 4 cups of raw nuts of choice. Drain salt water after 8 -12 hours (except for cashews which should only be soaked for 6 hours) and then dry in a warm, 150 F/ 66 C degree oven (dry cashews a little higher at 200 F/ 93 C). You will be AMAZED at how much easier nuts are to digest and how much tastier they are when you do this.
Back to the Russian Custard  ….
The key to Russian Custard is the quality of the eggs you use. Egg yolks are extremely nutritious and easily digested (can you believe some misinformed people still throw them out and make egg white omelets???).
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 to make your Russian Custard and purchase them locally so that you are supporting small, local farms in your area.
Russian Custard Recipe
Recipe for Russian custard that is a delicious substitute for dairy cream in all your dessert recipes. It is also delish on its own with nuts or fruit!
Ingredients
- 8 eggs preferably pastured
- 4 tsp raw honey preferably local
- sprouted nuts optional, chopped
- fresh fruit optional, chopped
Instructions
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Wash eggs gently in warm, soapy water and then dry.
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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.
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Serve immediately with fruit or nuts or add to recipe of choice in place of cream.
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Be sure to refrigerate any Russian custard leftovers, which will last several days.
Recipe Notes
This recipe is adapted from Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD.
If keto or ultra low carb, reduce or substitute the honey with a few drops of stevia extract.
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
Love pudding? Try these other recipes too!
Egg Custard Pudding
Vanilla Pudding Recipe
Bread and Butter Pudding
Jello Pudding
Macademia Nut Pudding
Coconut Milk Pudding
Thai Custard
Homemade Chocolate Pudding
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
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?
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!
EXACTLY! Well said.
Thanks for this Sarah, I am going to try this!
did not know that egg yolks could be used this way!
This is great! Thanks.
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?
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!
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.
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?
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!!
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!
Thanks a lot for the link on how to use leftover eggwhites!!! It’s very helpfull. And tasty 🙂