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College Puffs
915. Take half a pint of thin cream, three eggs, whites and yolks, one tablespoonful of flour, some nutmeg, and the peel of one lemon grated. Sweeten to your taste. Put it in small teacups; bake it threequarters of an hour. Serve it up with sweet sauce.
A plain baked custard batter, closer to a small crustless pudding than anything that puffs dramatically. The original gives no oven heat, which is the one gap worth filling before you start.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given. Treat it as a moderate oven, 325-350F, which suits the 45-minute time in small cups. Higher heat curdles the custard and cracks the tops.
- Half a pintAn imperial pint is 20 fl oz, so half a pint is 10 fl oz, about 1¼ US cups.
- Thin creamThis means single or pouring cream, roughly 18 percent fat. Half-and-half is the closest supermarket equivalent; heavy cream will make the mixture dense and greasy.
- Small teacupsTeacups of the period were small, on the order of 5 to 6 fl oz, though sizes varied. Buttered ramekins of that size are the modern stand-in, and the quantity fills about four.
- A water bath helpsThree eggs to 10 fl oz of cream is a firm custard ratio, and set in a roasting tin of hot water the puffs cook evenly and stay tender at the edges. They are done when the centre is just set and no longer liquid when the cup is tilted.
- Lemon peelGrate only the coloured zest; the white pith turns bitter under long baking. One lemon's worth is assertive with 10 fl oz of cream, so use less if you want the nutmeg forward.
- Sweeten to tasteFor a dessert of this style, 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar in the whole mixture is about right, less if the sauce is sweet.
- Sweet sauceThe period default is a thin sauce of butter, sugar and sherry or sweet wine, sometimes thickened with a little flour. A warm custard or a simple lemon syrup does the same job.