Crème Anglais

You’ll find a million uses for this classic dessert sauce beyond Julienne’s topping for its famous French toast: drizzle it over fresh berries, pair it with a chocolate flourless cake, or even pour it into an ice cream maker and churn it to make homemade vanilla ice cream.

Makes about 4 ½ cups.

Ingredients

• ½ cup sugar

• 10 extra-large egg yolks

• 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 2 cups whole milk

Method

• Combine the sugar and yolks in a large bowl,

• Scrape the seeds from the vanilla beans into the sugar mixture. (Reserve the beans for another use.) Whisk to blend well.

• Heat the cream and milk in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles appear around the edges of the pan.

• Remove the pan from the stove and whisk half of the milk mixture into the egg mixture in a slow steady stream.

• Slowly whisk the yolk mixture into the remaining milk mixture in the saucepan.

• Whisk constantly over medium-low heat until the custard thickens enough to coat a spoon, about 5 minutes.

• Strain the custard through a fine sieve and into a large bowl.

• Cool and refrigerate

Recipe from Celebrating with Julienne by Susan Campoy with Julie Campoy, of Julienne, published by Prospect Park Books