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Delicious, nourishing egg custard made the traditional way, loaded with healthy fats for your creamy enjoyment as the ultimate comfort food.
Egg custard pudding was my favorite treat growing up.
I usually made a couple of bowls a week at my Grandparents’ house, who lived not far down the road.
My Grandfather, also a huge egg custard fan, and I would happily enjoy a bowl while sitting in his favorite chair, watching baseball on the rabbit-eared black and white TV in the living room.
Egg custard was basically the only thing I could cook in my middle school years, and it didn’t really get much better until I had kids!
The reason I learned how to make this one dish at my Grandparents’ house at such an early age was my nearly constant craving for eggs, which were rarely served in my own home.
I have no idea why I craved eggs so much – I don’t crave them at all anymore probably because I get so many good fats elsewhere in my diet and eggs are often on the menu.
I think these tween cravings were likely because the wholesome fats in the yolk provided such excellent nourishment at such a fast-growing and hormonally charged time of life.
In my opinion, egg custard is a great first dish to teach your children (along with scrambled eggs). When you skip the white sugar in most versions and substitute unprocessed, whole cane sugar or dark maple syrup instead, the flavor even resembles flan!
If your children are tweens or teens and still haven’t shown much interest in cooking (this is an important life skill to teach!), haul them into the kitchen and show them how to whip up a bowl of egg custard or another healthy dessert recipe that might interest them.
Be sure to serve each bowl with a spoonful of homemade whipped cream on top.
More Homestyle Puddings to Enjoy!
While this egg custard recipe uses dairy milk, there are many ways to make nondairy pudding if you prefer. Here are some alternative recipes to consider.
Classic Egg Custard Recipe
An easy, traditional recipe for egg custard pudding that will delight both young and old with its rich flavor and easy digestibility.
Ingredients
- 6 eggs preferably pastured or free range
- 3 cups whole milk preferably grassfed
- 1/2 cup maple syrup preferably dark or Grade B
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- ground nutmeg optional
Instructions
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Crack eggs into a medium-sized, oven safe glass bowl (I use this one) and whip until just blended.
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Add sea salt and vanilla and mix well. Blend in maple syrup and whole milk with a whisk.
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Bake egg custard in the same mixing bowl at 400 °F/204 °C for 45-50 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned on top, and a knife inserted in the center of the bowl comes out clean.
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Remove from the oven and sprinkle the optional nutmeg on top.
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Egg custard is delicious served warm! After the bowl is cooled, refrigerate leftovers for up to 4-5 days.
Recipe Notes
Goat or cow milk both work well in this recipe.
If you wish to use duck eggs instead of chicken eggs, use 4 instead of 6 eggs. Duck eggs are quite a bit larger than chicken eggs.
no one has insight into the sweet scrambled eggs problem?
I just posted this above, but thought I’d copy here in case you have the “notify” on:
I should’ve looked around; most custards set better (don’t separate) when baked in a water bath AND at a lower temp (325/350). My gut said go with a lower temp, but I tried it as is. Many suggestions if you google it are to avoid the separation with lower temps. Will probably try again with slightly souring raw milk, at low temp. Cheers!
I made this custard this evening. I didn’t have enough maple syrup, so I just used a 1/2 cup of organic sugar. I also used fresh duck eggs instead of chicken eggs and used the cows milk, not coconut milk. It turned out wonderfully. My children LOVED it!
I also went ahead and cooked it in a water bath…
I made this, following the directions exactly, except I substituted honey. The finished product was not smooth or creamy; it resembled very wet scrambled eggs with liquid sitting in the bottom of the dish. I don’t know what I did wrong…help!
I think I’m going to do half coconut milk and half raw cow milk (with the cream) and see how that comes out…thanks for the recipe!
Just made it for the first time, and it is delicious! I used Rapunzel Organic Whole Cane Sugar instead of the Maple Syrup (it is what I have. Definitely making it again with Maple Syrup!) My custard turned out so beautiful that I took a picture! The top has a gorgeous, yummy crust from the froth that sat on top when I poured the whipped mixture into my baking dish. The custard itself has a lovely, silky, smooth texture for about two inches, and then a very slightly more “egg-ish” layer on the bottom, maybe from overcooking? As it has cooled, a caramel-y liquid has separated from the custard, which I have spooned out into a pan as it has pooled. It hasn’t changed the custard, so I suppose it is ok. I am going to try to reduce the liquid and make it into a sauce and pour it back over the custard. I am definitely recommending this recipe! With a warning about over-cooking. . .
Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Also, I’d love to try the Thai Custard recipe but the link is broken and I didn’t find a category called desserts so don’t know where to find it otherwise. I did get a good chuckle when I got the “You 404’d it. Gnarly. Dude.” error message. I had heard about these changes on TEDtalks but hadn’t seen one yet. 😉
I made this dish and followed the instructions but it has turned out very watery! It still tastes good and my husband has already eaten half of it. Is the consistency supposed to be more “pudding-ish”? Any ideas for what I am doing incorrectly??
Why did mine turn out like sweet scrambled eggs? Maybe in for too long as there were burned pieces on the top?
Yum! I have been drinking avocado milkshakes (milk and avocado blended) and raw milk tonic (Nourishing Traditions) lately. So I halved your recipe above, added an avocado and blended it. It is delicious! My new favorite.
Hi Sarah. I decided to make this as a frozen custard. When i add the grade B maple syrup, it makes the whole thing brownish/tan and it tastes like dulce de leche or butterscotchy. Not bad, but my children won’t like the flavor. Already taste=tested on my DH. Any suggestions?
My grade B maple is very sulphery–like Molasses.
Thanks,
You could use Grade A (amber) maple syrup. It’s much milder in flavor and lighter in color.