This simple sauce is delicious drizzled over the poppy-seed sweet bread or the rum raisin apple pie.
Cooks' note:
Sauce can be chilled up to 3 days.
Recipe information
Total Time
1 1/2 hr
Yield
Makes about 2 1/4 cups
Ingredients
2 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Special Equipment
an instant-read thermometer
Preparation
Bring milk with a pinch of salt to a simmer in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Whisk together yolks and sugar in a bowl until combined, then add hot milk mixture in a slow stream, whisking. Transfer custard to same saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats back of a spoon and thermometer registers 170 to 175°F. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and stir in vanilla. Cover surface of custard with a round of wax paper and chill until cold, at least 1 hour.
