Creamy Christmas Custard

With the Recipe Redux this month falling so close to Christmas, our lovely organizers thought it might be good for us bloggers to tell you about our favorite kitchen gadgets. That way, if you need a last minute gift suggestion for a mother-in-law or that person in your life that already seems to have everything, you have lots of great ideas. One of our favorite kitchen gadgets is a zester.

I use this thing all the time! My favorite use of it is for grating fresh spices--as shown in the first picture. Those little nuts pictured are nutmeg! I love to use nutmeg in my cooking, and the more fresh the better. (I probably use nutmeg too much!) I also like to use it for ginger or citrus zest. Wouldn't it make a cute present packaged with some fresh nutmeg?

Here's a custard recipe where I used fresh nutmeg. Doesn't custard just sound Christmasy?

Ingredients: makes 6 custard cups
2 C milk low fat ( I used whole milk this time)
2/3 C instant nonfat dry milk powder
2 to 3 T honey
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp fresh nutmeg or 1/2 tsp dried nutmeg

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 and spray custard cups with nonstick spray.

2. In a saucepan pour in milk, dry milk, honey,and cook on medium high heat. Stir often until the mixture boils. It should take about 5 min. Don't let it boil for more than a minute.

3. In a small bowl beat the eggs until light. Then pour in small amount of egg into milk mixture. Beat with a whisk or hand mixer till combined. Then beat in the vanilla and spices.

4. Pour into cups. Sprinkle some nutmeg or cinnamon on top.

5. In a large rectangle pan place the 6 filled custard cups. Fill the pan with warm (not boiling) water till it covers the custard cups halfway. Bake until the custard sets. It should take 20-25 min. The knife will come out clean when inserted into the custard. Eat warm or cover with plastic and put int the fridge till chilled.