Coffee Creme Caramel

This is adapted from Tessa Kiros's fourth book, Piri Piri Starfish. I've been using this book pretty frequently lately. A lot of cooking calls for Chorizo and I am loving the spicy sausage taste. While Aaron is away, I didn't cook enough to make a proper savoury meal for myself. But I did make a lot of desserts and this coffee creme caramel was made for breakfast. It has coffee, egg and milk in it. I was imagining myself eating scrambled egg on toast with a glass of milk and a dreamy bitter coffee. I think it fits the bill for breakfast and is very easy to pull together.

It doesn't make a lot and you can leave it in the fridge for up to a week. Just tip it out when you would like to have one and as you pass the fridge and couldn't resist the urge to dig in.

To make the caramel, tip the sugar into a heavy-based non-stick pan over medium heat and add a tablespoon of water. Heat it up, stirring, until the sugar starts to melt, then tilt the pan to swirl it around- don't stir anymore or the sugar will crystallise. Brush down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush to stop the sugar reforming on the side. Carry on heating and swirling a few times until all the sugar has melted and turned deep golden caramel brown. Stir in the port, watching out for it spitting. Pour into your moulds, swirling so the caramel covers the bottoms. Put the moulds into a large roasting tin and leave to cool while you make the filing. Preheat the oven to 160°C.

To make the custard, heat the milk in a saucepan just to boiling point, then whisk in the coffee and remove from the heat. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla together very lightly, just enough to incorporate the sugar but not enough to make it froth. Add a ladleful of the hot milk to the eggs, whipping to acclimatise them, then pour in all the hot milk and stir together. Pour into the moulds.

Pour boiling water into the roasting tin halfway up the sides of the moulds and lift into the oven.Bake for 40 minutes or until the custard is set.

Leave to cool then cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge. These are best eaten the next day, when the caramel has dissolved a bit and the custard has firmed up.To turn out, press down with your fingers in gentle dancing piano movements all around the edges of the custards to loosen them from the moulds. Shuffle or shake the mould quite roughly, hold a plate firmly over the top and flip it all over. If the custard refuses to plop out, dip the bottom of the mould in hot water for just a very few seconds. Serve with ever-so-lightly sweetened whipped cream or just plain.