2 cups whipping cream
1 2″ piece of vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar for topping
Preheat oven to 325 deg. F.
Bring cream and vanilla bean to boil. Cool for 15 minutes. Strain out vanilla bean. If you use vanilla essence, add when cream has cooled slightly.
With a whisk, beat together egg yolks and sugar to 2 to 3 minutes, until thick and lemon colored. Whisk in warm cream.
Butter 4 1 cup custard cups. Divide custard between them. Place cups in a baking dish large enough to hold all four. Add hot water half way up dishes. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until the custard has just set. Remove from warm bath, cool and refrigerate.
A few hours before serving, sieve 1 TBSP sugar evenly over each custard. Place under broiler as close to heat as possible and watch sugar caramelize. It takes about 2 to 3 minutes. The sugar will turn a golden brown colour. Watch carefully so as not to burn sugar. Cool and refrigerate until needed.
Serve topped with Sambucca ice cream.