This recipe is by Chef Steps, the same company that makes my sous vide. It should, however, work with any sous vide setup.
I followed the recipe exactly except I swapped out the sugar with Swerve (erythritol). The results? MIND BLOWN!!! My expectations were exceeded by far!
To my knowledge Swerve (erythritol) is the only sweetener (other than sugar) that will caramelize. Please correct me if you know otherwise!
Equipment needed:
Sous vide setup
Digital food scale
Fine mesh strainer (optional)
5 Wide-mouth 8oz (1/2 pint) canning jars with lids
Blowtorch
Jar lifter or tongs
Whisk
Mixing bowl
Ingredients
160 g (6 oz) Egg yolks (about 11 yolks)
90 g (3 oz) Swerve (erythritol), granulated, plus more for dusting
3 g (0.01 oz) Salt
600 g (21 oz) Heavy cream
Instructions
Heat sous vide setup to your desired doneness. I chose 181 F for mine.
176 degrees F (80 C) - Soft and creamy, like pudding
181 degrees F (83 C) - Less runny, and a little thicker
185 degrees F (85 C) - Rich and firm
-
Separate egg yolks. Save the whites for another recipe you might be doing.
-
Mix the base - Combine yolks, Swerve (erythritol), and Salt. Mix using a whisk until smooth.
-
Add heavy cream to the base and whisk until smooth.
-
Strain through a fine mesh strainer and let rest for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes skim off the bubbles on the surface with a spoon.
-
Fill jars to about .5 inches (1.25 cm) from the top. If there are any bubble left on the surface you can use your blowtorch to to pop them. The recipe says this will fill 5 jars. For me it filled about 4 and a half jars. I probably overfilled a bit. Not a big deal.
-
Seal jars with their lids to “fingertip tight”. If they are sealed too tightly they can burst in the water.
-
Carefully lower the jars into the water bath with your jar lifter or tongs. Be careful! One of mine turned on its side and made a cloudy mess in the water. They still turned out fine but I will be much more careful in the future. You will see air bubbles escaping out of the jars. That is normal and water won’t get into them as long as they aren’t too loose. Remember, you just want “fingertip tight”. It is fine to stack the jars on top of each other.
-
Leave them in the sous vide for 1 hour.
-
Transfer the jars to the fridge and chill until cold, about 2 hours.
-
Sprinkle an even layer of Swerve (erythritol) on top of the custard. Use your blowtorch on a low gas release setting and let it caramelize. Go slow and don’t leave the flame in one spot. Keep it moving the whole time. I found the Swerve doesn’t caramelize quite as nicely as sugar, but it’s still really good. It tends to burn easier. Mine looks pretty burnt but it tasted amazing!
-
Let rest for 5 minutes so the Swerve (erythritol) will harden. I like to put mine in the freezer for this rest so it hardens more.
Enjoy! I hope you like it as much as I did.