Monday, March 28, 2011

Custard Crispy or what to do when the milk is gone!

Whenever I get a craving for a custard sort of dessert, naturally, I don't have milk in the house! Nothing worse than coming into the kitchen with a beautiful, soft custard in mind only to discover your beloved child draining the last cup of milk left in the refrigertor! The milk is gone but not your desire!

I found this recipe in an ancient cookbook someone gave me once. I tweaked it to my own specifications over the years but do not mind sharing it. It makes a nice dessert or even something sweet to go with your coffee in the morning. Hey, remember WE don't need excuses! We're the moms!

Custard Crispy

1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons cold water
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup water
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
Grated rind of one lemon, optional
3 eggs

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut 1/2 cup margarine into 1 cup flour until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle 1 tablespoons water over flour mixture; mix. Gather pastry into a ball, divide into halves. Pat each half into rectangle, 12 x 3 inches, on ungreased cookie sheet. Rectangles should be about three inches apart.

Heat 1/2 up margarine and 1 cup water to rolling boil; remove from heat. quickly stir in extracts and 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about one minutes; remove from heat. Add eggs, beat until smooth and glossy. Spread half of the topping over each rectangle. Bake until topping is crisp, brown and slightly cracked, about one hour; cool on rack. Topping will shrink and fall, forming the custard top. Dust with powdered sugar or with a thin glaze.

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