for 4 people

Caramel

100 g	sugar
6 tbsp	water

Pears

2	soft pears

Custard

3	fresh eggs
50 g	sugar
1	vanilla pod
1 ½ dl	milk
1 ½ dl	strong espressos

water, boiling

How it's done

Caramel

Boil the sugar and 3 tbsp water in a wide pan without stirring. Reduce the heat and simmer, swirling the pan occasionally until a light brown caramel has formed. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the remainder of the water, cover the caramel and continue to simmer until it has dissolved, remove the lid and reduce to a syrupy consistency.

Pour the caramel into the prepared ramekins.

Pears

Peel and halve the pears, place cut side down in the caramel.

Custard

Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl. Halve the vanilla pod lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, place both in the pan with the milk and espressos, bring to the boil while stirring. Whisk the milk into the egg mixture, then pass through a sieve into a measuring cup.

Place the ramekins on a cloth in an ovenproof dish. Pour the custard into the ramekins and cover each one with foil. Pour enough boiling water into the dish to come two-thirds of the way up the side of the ramekins.

To cook in a bain-marie

Approx. 50 mins. in the lower half of an oven preheated to 170 °C. Take the dish out of the oven, leave the ramekins to stand in the water for approx. 10 mins., remove from the dish, then remove the foil. Leave the caramel puddings to cool, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hrs.

To serve

Using the tip of a knife, carefully separate the caramel puddings from the edge of the ramekins and tip out onto plates.

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