Chef Taylor Erickson famous Caramel Apple Pots de Crème  with Maldon Salt Flakes

 

Ingredients 

• 8 tbsp butter + 2 tbsp for apples
• 1 apple, in 1/2in slices 
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 vanilla bean
• 3 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cup whole milk 
• 12 egg yolks 
• 8 8oz. Wide mouth Mason jars, sterilized or any oven-safe small pots 

Method 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees 

On stove, in a small pan, sauté apple slices in the 2 tbsp butter until softened. Sprinkle with cinnamon and give it another toss until apples are coated. With tongs, place a slice of apple in the bottom of each of the jars. Set aside. 

In a saucepan, melt the remaining butter. Stir in the brown sugar, salt, and the seeds (removed) from the vanilla bean. Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly. It will smell lovely. 

Slowly add in the heavy cream, whisking as you go. Sugar will dissolve.  Off the heat, mix in the whole milk.

In a big bowl, with a pouring spout if you have it, add the egg yolks. Gradually poor in the butter-sugar mixture, tempering the eggs a bit in doing so, and whisking continuously.

Pour the custard into the sterilized jars, on top of each apple slice, filling them about a centimeter from the top. It’s ok if the apple slices float to the top.

Place jars in a large roasting pan with high sides. Carefully Fill the roasting pan with hot water so that just the the bottom half of the jars are immersed. Bake for an hour on a center rack.

Remove the pan from the oven and carefully remove the custards from the hot water. I use tongs with a rubber grip on them. Let the custard cool on the counter for an hour. 

After cooled for an hour, place the custard jars to set in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or up 2 days. 

Once ready to serve, sprinkle each custard with a pinch of Maldon Salt Flakes. I like to break the little flakes into finer pieces with my fingers as a sprinkle :-)

Enjoy!

Images by:  Marcel Indik