The sweet times have come

Have you noticed how children naturally veer towards sweets and the elders towards sour, spice and bitter? Do our tastes reflect our true natures? Are we born cute and sweet and turn sour and bitter as we grow older? It’s hard to say, but maybe there is a correlation. As life gets serious so do our tastes! Coffee in place of toffee and spice in place of a sweet slice??

But every once in while come times when we need to put our bitters, and sours aside and get that little sweet back in us. They’re the times for forgiveness, for love, for cheer, laughter and mirth. We call these times festivals.

Christmas is almost around the corner and I have been pondering on which sweet recipe to share. Here is wonderful flan that you can add your individual signature to:-

Baked pineapple flan (makes 6)

Milk – 1 cup

Cream – 1 cup

Sugar – ½ cup

Vanilla bean – 1

Large eggs – 4 nos

Pineapple – ½

Sugar – ¾ cup ( for caramel)

Warm the milk, cream and sugar in a saucepan. Add the scraped vanilla bean, remove from heat and let steep for an hour. Whisk eggs well, warm the milk mix and add to the eggs while whisking slowly.

Peel and slice the pineapple into small pieces, cook in pan for about 7- 8 minutes over medium heat. Divide the pineapple into ramekins. Make caramel with the sugar and pour over the fruit and allow to harden. Pour the milk and egg mix over it. Place ramekins in a roasting pan, and pour warm water around the ramekins. Cover with foil and bake in the oven at 350 F for 50 minutes. Remove, allow to cool and refrigerate.To serve, run a thin knife around the sides of the ramekin and gently unmould the custard over a plate.

Call your honey bunches, sugarplums and sweetiepies over for a wonderful custard treat!