Baked Raspberry Custard: An Easy Dessert for the Stressful Holiday Season

Baked Raspberry Custard

‘Tis the season for consuming some of the best cuisine in America. With holidays like Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas and National Fritter Day (December 2!), Americans are almost constantly stuffing their faces with decadent foods for an entire two months.

While this may be “the most wonderful time of the year” for many people, it can be a nightmare for a select few–in particular, the lucky person tasked with the incessant planning and cooking. For those people, I have a recipe that will make life a lot easier.

This dessert is quick and easy, has very little clean-up, and chances are, cooks will have most of the ingredients in their kitchens already. Best of all, however, it is delicious and everyone will love it.

Baked Raspberry Custard (adapted from Martha Stewart)

Baked Raspberry Custard
Pre-baked raspberry custard. | Photograph by Deb Singer
  • 1/4 cup (half stick) unsalted butter*
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup sugar (plus more for sprinkling on the top)
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 2 tablespoons honey**
  • 2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Place the butter in a baking dish, preferably a 9-inch pie plate or cake tin. Put it in the oven to melt the butter, about 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from oven and tilt the pan around to coat with the butter. Now allow to cool a bit, without letting it solidify.
  3. In a blender, combine the milk, eggs, sugar, flour, salt and vanilla or honey. Blend until smooth. You may have to scrape down the sides with a spatula. Next, add the melted butter from the baking dish and blend until fully incorporated. Do not over-blend. Mix to the point where everything is just combined.
  4. Place the berries in the dish so that they cover the bottom evenly. If desired, try to position them in a decorative pattern, but chances are it won’t stay in place. Now, pour the batter over the berries. The batter is very thin, so don’t worry about distributing it evenly. Sprinkle a bit of sugar on top of the batter.

    Baked Raspberry Custard
    Just out of the oven, the sugar sprinkled on top of the custard was perfectly toasted in the broiler. I Photograph by Deb Singer

  5. Bake until the custard begins to puff up and, when shaken, does not jiggle around in the middle, about 20 to 25 minutes. Next, turn on the broiler, and toast the sugar on top (just like crème brûlée) until it is a golden brown. Broilers work fast, so be careful not to burn it. Make sure to keep an eye on it at all times.*** 
  6. Remove from oven and serve warm.

 

*Tip: For any baking you do, including this recipe, in the absence of unsalted butter, use salted butter and leave out whatever other salt for which the recipe calls.

Baked Raspberry Custard
This simple dessert can be eaten by itself, or would go great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. | Photograph by Deb Singer

**Tip: In substituting honey for the vanilla, reduce the amount of sugar, as it will become too sweet. Honey is a good ingredient to add to this recipe, as it introduces a wonderfully rich floral flavor into the custard.

***Tip: When using a broiler, never keep the oven door closed. Always keep it open at least an inch. Otherwise, the oven will become too hot and the food will burn. It is always better to pull the custard out too early than too late. Remember that at this point, it is already cooked through. Broiling simply toasts the sugar on the top.

 

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