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Crème Anglaise (French)

englishcreamcremeanglaiseA popular dessert sauce in France.  The French don't generally frost their cakes, instead they will serve a pitcher of crème anglaise along side and it is poured on top.

1 cup half and half cream
½ vanilla bean, or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
2½ Tbsp. sugar

Bring cream with scraped seeds of vanilla bean to just below a simmer. Whisk together egg yolks and sugar.

Gently whisk cream into egg mixture and return to pot. With a wooden spoon over medium-low heat, stir sauce until it coats the back of a spoon, about 4 minutes. Strain and chill.

In a heat resistant mixing bowl, stir together the egg yolks and the sugar with a wooden spoon until well combined. The sugar should be somewhat dissolved in the yolks but you don't want to add a lot of air.

Refrigerate to desired serving temperature.

Makes 2 cups.

Cook's Notes:  Making crème anglaise is just a little tricky. If you heat the sauce too much or too quickly, the egg yolks will cook into little clumps. This is called curdling and most people don't like a lumpy sauce. What to do if your sauce curdles despite your best efforts? You can either immediately pour it into a blender and try blending it until smooth (watch out for hot splatters), or pour it into an empty bottle, cap it, and shake away. In France, this custard sauce recipe is usually made with just a little sugar, but you may want to add just a bit more to this recipe if you like things really sweet. I make this recipe with a combination of heavy cream and milk, but you can also make it with just milk or half and half depending on how rich you want it. If you can, do make this custard sauce recipe with a vanilla bean. It will have a much nicer flavor. Vanilla beans are expensive and it's nice to get all the use we can from them. So if you wish, rinse the shell, dry it and use it to lightly flavor a canister of sugar. You may be interested in buying vanilla beans in bulk. Because they are light weight, you may even save money by mail ordering these.

Variations:  Stir in 1 Tbsp. of your favourite liqueur after the sauce has cooked. Try Grand Marnier, cognac, or rum.

Uses for Crème Anglaise:

  • Île flottante - An island of fluffy egg whites topped with crunchy caramel and floating in a sea of custard sauce.
  • Topping for cakes - For example, a chocolate lava cake or a chocolate almond cake are even more decadent with crème anglaise poured on top.
  • Topping for puddings (called entremets) - Rice pudding, bread pudding, or any other pudding.
  • Ice Cream - This sauce is used as the basis for making French style ice creams.
  • Fruit - Used as a topping for fresh fruit and maybe a slice of plain pound cake.