Chef John’s Creamy Corn Custard

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter, or as needed, divided
• 2 cups corn
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup cold milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 eggs

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Butter six 6-ounce glass or ceramic ramekins. Set ramekins into a 2-inch deep baking dish.

Place corn into a large saucepan and stir in cream, salt, and cayenne pepper. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat; stir in milk.

Transfer corn mixture to a blender and pulse several times to get the mixture moving. Blend on high speed until smooth and creamy.

Whisk egg yolks with eggs until smooth in a mixing bowl. Slowly whisk about 1/4 cup hot corn mixture into eggs until the corn mixture is incorporated. Repeat several times more until all the corn mixture is combined with eggs.

Divide corn mixture equally into the 6 ramekins. Pour hot tap water into the baking dish to come about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake in the preheated oven until custards are just set, 30 to 35 minutes. Let custards cool for about 10 minutes before serving in ramekins or unmolding onto serving plates. To unmold, insert a knife between the custard and the ramekin, go around the edge with knife to loosen, and turn over onto a plate to unmold.