Squirrels stock up for winter by collecting nuts in the fall. We should take advantage of the winter weather and being snowed in (once again in April) to stock up on broth before the sunshine (wishfully) draws us outside and keeps us from steaming up the kitchen with our bubbling liquids.
Make this custard merely because it is downright delicious — creamy, decadent, with a hint of spice and subtle sweetness, but if you should need to know, it is also gluten-free, grain-free, and without refined sugar. You could also make a few simple ingredient swaps to enjoy it without dairy. Adjust the level of sweetness to your taste — reduce the maple crystals or serve with additional maple syrup on top. Or omit the maple entirely and use whole pitted dates as your sweetener. We use leftover mashed or baked sweet potatoes, but sometimes swap those for pumpkin or butternut squash purée. Your food processor or blender combines everything to the perfect consistency in just a few minutes. All you have to do is wait (and fight off the aroma of maple and spices) while it sets to flawless satin in the oven. We eat this for breakfast, brunch or dessert (and 2-year-old Andy consumed multiple servings as a meal for weeks on end).
Whip everything up in a food processor, blender or with immersion blender. Since there is no gluten, it’s hard to overdo it. The blending will simply make it all smoother. But if you create a lot of bubbles in the process, tap those out once you fill your ramekins.
A water bath or bain marie is a good idea if not a necessity (and not a particularly difficult one) for cooking custard to satiny smoothness. Don’t skip this. Before starting, simply find a baking dish large enough to hold your ramekins with space for some hot water in between. But don’t add the hot water until you've put your baking dish with filled ramekins into the oven and handle carefully to prevent water from spilling into the custard.
Maple crystals are the result of boiling all of the water off of the sap harvested from maple trees. Maple crystals, also known as maple sugar, are becoming increasingly easier to find wherever you buy pure maple syrup. If you can’t find maple crystals, turbinado and coconut sugar are your next best options in this recipe.
Freshly grate your nutmeg — it makes all the difference.
Whole nutmeg grated on a microplane
2 medium sweet potatoes
5 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup heavy cream or half and half
¼ teaspoon whole cloves
6 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, plus more for serving
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of sea salt
¼ cup maple crystals (or turbinado or coconut sugar)
¼ cup maple syrup, plus more for serving
6 eggs
The custard is set when it no longer jiggles, except for a circle the size of a pinky fingertip in the middle.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Scrub sweet potatoes. Bake on a sheet pan at 375 degrees for 45-60 min or until sweet potato is soft and mushy to the touch. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Peel the skins from the sweet potato and discard the skins. You should have about 1½ - 1 ⅔ cups mashed.
Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Brush 8-10 ramekins (3-inch diameter) with some of the melted butter and place them in a large baking dish with high sides.
In a small pot, heat the cream with whole cloves, cardamom pods and a cinnamon stick until just steaming.
In a food processor or blender, purée sweet potato flesh with ground cinnamon, grated nutmeg, ground cardamom, ground ginger, ground cloves and sea salt until smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides.
Add maple crystals, maple syrup, remaining melted butter, and eggs and process until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.
With the food processor or blender running, slowly stream in the cream.
Pour into prepared ramekins. Carefully pull out the middle oven rack about 4-5 inches. Transfer the baking dish to the oven rack. Pour hot water into the baking dish until it comes halfway to two-thirds up the sides of the ramekins. Carefully slide the baking dish and oven rack back into the oven. Try not to splash water into the custard. Bake for 23-26 minutes until custard is set. A tiny pea-sized circle in the center will jiggle just a little when done.
Remove from the oven. Then remove ramekins from the baking dish and transfer to a cooling rack. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.
Serve warm or chilled with additional maple syrup or dusting of freshly ground nutmeg if desired.
Optional: With a knife, loosen edges of custard and invert ramekin onto a plate. Serve with additional maple syrup and a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg.
Variations:
Dairy-free. Substitute melted coconut oil or olive oil for the melted butter. Use room temperature coconut milk in place of the heavy cream or half and half.
No maple sugar. Use whole pitted dates in place of maple syrup. Bring two cups of water to a boil. Pour the water over ¾ cup whole pitted dates. Soak for 10 minutes. Drain thoroughly. Incorporate the dates into the custard mixture in place of maple crystals and maple syrup.
Pumpkin or Squash. Use 1⅔ cups cooked or canned pumpkin or squash purée in place of the mashed sweet potato. Use this method to make your own pumpkin purée.
Single Custard. If you don’t have small ramekins, you can use any bakeware, ideally 9” round, to bake the custard in, such as a ceramic dish, springform pan or cake pan. You then need another larger baking dish with high sides to set it into to bake. Adjust baking time to 30-40 minutes.
