Crema Catalana - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 lemon, rind of, grated
2 cups milk

Preparation

In a pot, beat together the egg yolks and 3/4 cup sugar until thoroughly blended and the mixture turns frothy.
Add the cinnamon stick and grated lemon rind.
Mix the cornstarch with 2 tbsp of the cold milk, when well mixed return it to the remaining 2 cups of milk.
Pour in the milk.
Slowly heat the mixture, stirring constantly, just until thickened.
Remove pot from heat immediately.
Tip: As soon as the mixture thickens and you feel resistance while stirring, remove the pot from the heat or the mixture may curdle or separate! The texture of the finished crema will be grainy instead of smooth and creamy, this is as it should be.
Remove the cinnamon stick and ladle the milk mixture into 4 ramekins (individual serving size).
Allow to cool, then refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.
Before serving, preheat the broiler.
Remove ramekins with the crema catalana from refrigerator and sprinkle the rest of the sugar over each ramekin.
When broiler is hot, place the ramekins under the broiler on the top shelf and allow the sugar to caramelize, turning gold and brown.
This may take 10 minutes or so, depending on your broiler. Remove and serve immediately.
If you'd like, you can serve the crema catalana chilled, but we think it has more flavor when served warm from the broiler.