Chocolate Amaretti Custard

Ingredients

• 500 ml Milk
• 4 whole Eggs
• 150 g Sugar
• 30 g Unsweetened cocoa powder
• 120 g Amaretti cookies
• 30 ml Dark rum
• 30 ml Brewed espresso
• 100 g Sugar

Steps

1. Prepare the caramel: put 100 g of sugar in a small saucepan with a tablespoon of water and heat over medium without ever stirring, only swirling the pan, until you get an amber caramel.
2. Pour it at once into the bottom of a loaf mold and tilt it to coat the base well, then let it set.
3. Crush the amaretti coarsely, keeping a few aside for decoration.
4. In a bowl break the eggs, add the remaining sugar and whisk until the mixture turns pale and frothy.
5. Sift the unsweetened cocoa into the bowl and work it well into the eggs.
6. Add the rum and the coffee and combine.
7. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it just reaches a simmer.
8. Pour it in a thin stream over the egg mixture, stirring constantly so the eggs do not curdle.
9. Add the crushed amaretti to the mixture and stir, letting it rest a few minutes so they soften.
10. Pour the mixture into the caramelized mold, over the now-set caramel.
11. Bake in a water bath: set the mold in a larger pan filled with hot water up to halfway up the mold, and bake in a preheated conventional oven at 150°C for about 50-60 minutes, until the bonet is set but still slightly wobbly in the center.
12. Take it out and let it cool to lukewarm.
13. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, better overnight.
14. Unmold the bonet by turning it upside down onto a serving plate so the caramel runs over the surface, decorate with the reserved amaretti and serve cold.

Tips

• Never stir the sugar while it caramelizes: you would risk making it crystallize. Only swirl the pan.
• Pour the hot milk in a thin stream and stir constantly: this tempers the eggs without making them scramble.
• Bonet should be served well chilled after a long rest in the fridge, which firms up its texture and intensifies its flavor.