Recipe Friday(Crème Anglaise)

OK, I know I am a day late this week, but I am operating on the better late than never mantra for now! My oldest and best friend just moved to NYC this week, which is beyond exciting- and she came over to eat dinner last night. We decided we should cook something and crème anglaise is one of her favourite things. Yes, she has admitted to drinking it once in the morning for breakfast, while I am not recommending this- it is that good!!
It is relatively easy to make and requires very few ingredients, most of which you normally have around the kitchen anyway! We decided we would make brownie cupcakes topped with fresh fruit and crème anglaise. YUM. We used Ghirardelli Delux Fudge Brownie Mix:

These are arguably the best "box" brownies you can find! In order to make the dessert a little more "pretty" and easy to plate we made them into cupcakes. We just filled each cup cake tin about 3/4 full and while the directions say these have to bake for about 38 minutes the cupcakes took about 26. 
While they were in the oven we made the crème anglaise, which worked perfectly as it gives it time to cool before you are ready to put it all together!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 whipping cream
1 vanilla bean split(we just used a teaspoon of vanilla extract)
3 large egg yolks
3 tbsp sugar

Directions:

-Combine milk and cream in heavy medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean(If you decide to use vanilla extract instead wait a put it in once all ingredients are combined!). Bring milk mixture to simmer. Remove from heat.

-Whisk egg yolks and sugar in medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into yolk mixture. 

-Return custard to saucepan. Stir over low heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when drawn across, about 5 minutes (do not boil). Now add the vanilla extract!

-Strain sauce into bowl. Cover and chill. (Can be made 1 day ahead.)

So once your brownies and crème anglaise have cooled enough to eat you can put it all together! This is another one of those cooking endeavours where all of the components are relatively simple but when you bring it together it looks like a lot of work went into it! 

It is easier to tell here how the cupcakes made this a more concise and clean plate! I decided to go for the trifecta and use blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries and it was delicious! The rich chocolate taste so good with the delicate crème and sweet berries! You can use crème anglaise on lots of desserts and it is an easy way to make it look like you went the extra mile! Anything that would generally be paired with vanilla ice cream and be made a little more sophisticated with the addition of this delectable sauce!

So here is one more picture, supplied by my room mate Caroline who has way cooler iPhone apps than me! This definitely does justice to this fantastic treat! So next time you are trying to figure out how to put a new twist on what might be a old faithful dessert think about adding some Crème Anglaise!