I like my recipes to be easy, so this Easy Custard Recipe sure fits the bill. It took a bit of experimentation to get there though!
So given my latest direction of Ray Peat inspired eating, custard would have to be one of the most perfect dessert foods. Milk, sugar, maybe eggs, maybe gelatin – they’re all on the preferred foods list for optimal health in Ray’s opinion. So it’s not like you are cheating in any way when you eat this – you’re supposed to be!
So perhaps I should put ‘guilt free’ in the title?
Anyway, my focus has been reducing my fat intake a bit lately because coming out of low-carb /keto eating, this seems to be my last stumbling block. Normal ‘healthy’ foods that I should be eating like eggs, cheese, butter were adding up to a crap load of total fats – healthy to be sure, but excess of anything soon becomes unhealthy.
So my first custard experiment didn’t work. I tried egg yolks in it and it soon became clear that I would need to add more egg yolks if that was to be the only thickening agent. I opted for a bit of gelatin instead and it worked and tasted fine, but it was not the desired texture; a little rubbery. Shelve that idea for another time, as I wanted to go lower fat anyway.
Next step – potato starch and jackpot first go!
This is creamy, not quite pouring custard but stays a little soft even after refrigeration. It would be amazing over fruit or in a trifle.
Anyway, let’s cook!
Easy Custard Recipe
Easy Custard Recipe - Ray Peat Inspired
Equipment
- saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 cup skim milk grass fed
- 1/3 cup skim sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tbs vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt
- 1 TBS potato starch with extra 1/4 cup milk to dissolve
Instructions
- Mix the potato starch with ¼ cup of milk & set aside
- Place milk & vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the sweetened condensed milk and stir for a few minutes while heating slowly.
- Mix the starch mixture again to smooth any lumps and gradually add the starch mix to the milk mixture while continuing to stir.
- Keep stirring until it becomes a thick and creamy. (About a minute or so.) Do not boil.
- Pour and eat or pour into individual portions and refrigerate.
For the cherry or blueberry jam recipe see here.
Note:
- you can substitute honey or other real sweeteners for the sweetened condensed milk, I am just loving the flavour of it at the moment.
- Also corn flour or any other flour you are using will work as well, except nut flours. I just like the fine texture of potato starch and it’s not a grain, or GMO like corn – so bonus there.
- You could add 1 TBS or two of hydrolysed gelatin for extra protein – this won’t affect the set of the custard in any way – just don’t use the gelling one!
Total fat only 2.7g for the whole thing, so 0.9g per serve.
Compare that to a full fat version with at least 4 eggs you need to set it and it would be 9g whole milk, 20g eggs, 9g full fat sweetened condensed milk – total fat – 38g. Per serve 12.7g.
It’s a big difference.
Now the keto/low carbers wouldn’t care about the fat, they would sweeten with something artificial and move right along. However when you have adequate carb fuel from the fruit, honey and sugar in your life, sometimes you don’t need the extra fat, especially if you’re trying to lose weight.
So this way you can still have dessert and fire up that metabolism. Yay!
One last thing – if anyone is thinking, ‘no I’m dairy-free.’ What I’ve also come to learn is that with the protein, fat, carb and calcium balance in milk, it’s actually a super nutritious food if it is grass-fed.
Those with a lactose intolerance – unless they are genetic predisposed – actually have issues with their gut that require fixing, because if they don’t, it gets worse and soon enough they will develop intolerance to many more things. We’ve been led astray again!
So many things to un-learn about health – it’s a riot!
Eat and be truly healthy!
Kristy x
NB: For more dessert style recipes for a healthy metabolism, grab a copy of my book Sweet Treats.
This looks delicious, Kristy! Bookmarking for later. I love your recipes, and definitely agree that there is so much to “un-learn” about health.
Hi Kyla, thanks so much for stopping by! I had a quick look at your website and it’s pink and beautiful. So lovely. Yes this health stuff is a riot. I used to be the food police, lecturing everyone – for their own good of course! Ha ha. And now that I may have been wrong about all of that, I’m much more open minded… she says while drinking a very delicious iced coffee with organic skim milk and lots of honey! To your health.
Sorry Kristy, I just found your response! Thanks so much for the kind words about our website. I too am a reformed member of the food police! I’m much more open-minded now as well, and I love the sense of freedom that comes with eating this way. I also never thought I’d see the day where I’d purposefully add sugar to my coffees! 😉