Happy balance of bright lemon and sweet honey. Use oven proof glass or ceramic ramekins for baking the custard. Use 1.5 cup capacity ramekins for four servings or 1 cup capacity for six servings. You can also use a single 7″ oven proof dish and fill to ~2″ depth. Grease these with butter, ghee or coconut oil ahead of time and place in refrigerator, so they are chilled when you fill them for baking.
This old-timey dessert is one I modified from my dog-eared 1979 edition of Joy of Cooking, given to me when I was an undergraduate in nutrition at the University of Vermont. There were no cookbooks then specific to particular diets – except Diet For A Small Planet, and a few other vegetarian titles (yep, had those too). But this encyclopedic tome has served me across the decades to dig up amazing and obscure recipes, some to modify, and others fabulous just as they were back then.
When my son had wisdom teeth removed, I had to find ways to give a high calorie, high nourishment, pureed or soft diet. No sucking on straws allowed, no chewing, nothing too hot or cold. And nothing with gluten, casein, whey, tree nuts (except almond), peanut, soy, legumes (except lentils), cane sugar, coconut sugar, or maple sugar – all foods that trigger reactions in his case. Here is one that became a home run.
This recipe was originally posted on Nutrition Care for Children.
Paleo Lemon Sponge Custard
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Honey
- 1 1/2 tbsp grass fed butter, ghee, or coconut oil
- 1 tbsp lemon rind grated or minced very fine (~ 1/2 a lemon's worth)
- 6 Eggs
- 3 tbsp gluten-free flour blend Hagman blend works well; for Paleo version, use 1 tsp almond flour and 2 teaspoons coconut flour.
- 1/4 cup Lemon Juice fresh squeezed from ~1/2 lemon tastes best
- 1 cup whole unsweetened coconut milk
- 1/8 - 1/4 tsp liquid stevia
- 1 tbsp extra butter, ghee or coconut oil for greasing ramekins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease ramekins on bottoms and sides. Place in refrigerator until ready to fill.
- Cream honey, butter (or ghee or coconut oil) and lemon rind to smooth consistency.
- Separate the eggs, and set whites aside in small mixing bowl with tall sides. Add yolks and stevia to the honey mixture and beat well.
- Stir in GF flour, and blend well; then stir in lemon juice, blend again; then add coconut milk and stir to evenly mixed.
- Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks in the bowl you've set aside. Fold them gently into the honey mixture until blended but still puffy.
- Pour the custard mixture into ramekins, to 2/3 full. Place all in a large baking pan or dish. Add ~1/2 to 1" hot tap water to the baking pan (not in the custard ramekins) and bake x 40-45 minutes.
- When done, custards will be browned slightly more at edges than centers. Enjoy warm or cold. Delicious with cherry-raspberry sauce, link below.
Looks fabulous.
Correction: flour blend is 3 Tbsp but you meant to measure almond flour and coconut flour by the Tbsp not tsp. I think.
Could you please let us know what is the powdered substitution for liquid stevia? I use Sweetleaf brand powdered.
Hi Stephanie
Yes, you are correct… I am not sure about equivalent measurement to change from liquid to powdered stevia but the company might be able to help you since they make both.
warmly
Dr Jill
Thank you! One more question: is the unsweetened coconut milk undiluted from the can or diluted as those in the cardboard containers in the grocery cooler? Thank you again!
The beef sweet potato stew looks great also.
You may use any unsweetened coconut milk – the can/box variety will be thicker
Hello, I am new to your recipe page and new to Gluten Free cooking. I would love like to make the lemon sponge custard.
However the flour blend measure using almond flour & coconut flour does not equal the 3 tablespoons needed for receipe. Any suggestion? Thank you.
Hi Patty,
You might need slightly more than 3TBSP
Do you think flax or chia egg would work instead of 6 eggs?
Sure! Please give it a try and let me know if it works… I cannot eat eggs either.