Maple Custard Recipe with Duck Eggs • The Prairie Homestead (2024)

“Where did THESE come from?”

That was my first thought when the Prairie Kids brought in some abnormally large, blueish eggs a month or two ago. We’ve only hadbrown eggs since the raccoons got our Amerucana hens last year, and I couldn’t fathom why on earth our Plymouth Rocks and Red Sex Linkssuddenly started laying giant blue eggs.

Until I remembered we have ducks.

Duh, Jill. Duh.

Ever since, I’ve been on a mission to figure out the best ways to utilize these lovely duck eggs. Not only are duck eggs larger and richer than chicken eggs, but they also are reported to contain higher amounts of Omega-3s and protein. They have a bit more of an “intense” flavor, so most people prefer to add them to recipes, versus eating them plain.I’ve been experimenting with our duck eggs in all sorts of recipes lately, and have been nothing but impressed.

Most recently, I’ve been making duck egg custard, which makes me feel all sorts of fancy when I serve it in little custard cups after supper. But truthfully, homemade custard is incredibly simple to make, and uses milk and eggs, which are usually plentiful on a homestead.

Homemade Maple Custard Recipe

Makes 5-6 servings

• 3 whole duck eggs or 4 whole chicken eggs
• 1/3 cup* real maple syrup (like this)
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (I use this one)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (how to make vanilla extract)
• 2 cups whole milk
• Ground nutmeg
• Hot water

*As written, these custards are delicately sweet. If you prefer a sweeter dessert, add 2-3 tablespoons of additional maple syrup.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Fill a teapot with water, and heat it just toboiling. Set aside.

Add the milk to a small saucepan, and scald it (heat it until it’s just about ready to boil, but don’t let it boil all the way).

In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, maple syrup, salt, and vanilla.

By the way,I always use the real McCoy for syrup. Genuine, all-natural maple syrup trumps the store-bought pretend stuff every time. I highly recommend this wood-fired, all-natural maple syrup,made the old-fashioned way by the Plante family, in New England.

Slowly whisk the egg mixture into the scalded milk. Strain the custard through a fine mesh strainer (to remove lumps), then pour custard cups or oven-safe ramekins half-full with the mixture. Sprinkle ground nutmeg on the top of each cup.

Place the ramekins in a oven safe pan (like a large baking dish), and fill the pan with the hot water to create a water bath for your custard cups. The water should come halfway up the sides of the cups. (This ensures they cook gently and evenly).

Bake for 35-55 minutes, or until the custards are set but still “loose”. (I check by touching the top lightly with my finger, if it is still liquid, keep cooking. A little jiggle is OK, though.)

Remove from the oven and serve immediately if you like warm custard (I don’t). Otherwise, refrigerate for up to 24 hours before serving for a silky smooth, chilledcustard.

Homemade Custard Notes

• My Pyrex ramekins are slightly larger, so this recipe makes enough to fill 5 of them. If you are using smaller cups, you can easily get six servings from this recipe.
• If you’d rather use granulated sugar in this recipe, you can. Simple omit the syrup and add 1/3 cup of sugar instead.
• Although I haven’t tried it yet, honey would be awesomein this recipe too.
• If it’s berry season, a handful of fresh berries would be heavenly on top of these maple custard cups.

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