Caramel Heaven

I have been incredibly hesitant to post products or services on the blog that have been sent to me. This was meant to be a forum for me to waffle on about whatever whim and food driven exploit I should chose. But today I make an exception because this caramel is simply too good to share. 

Remi and Breena Tremsal run Caramelicious - an artisan caramel production outfit in Victoria. And they stand for everything you want in a hand made, small batch outfit. They use only the best ingredients,with none of that other junk that comes in small print on the bottom of the label. Basically they are freakin delightful.All of the 4 flavours - salted butter, vanilla, chocolate and hazelnut will make you wish you bought it by the case.

I used the vanilla version for my Fairfax post this week for the banana cardamom caramel croissant pudding and well, lets just say I was going to go all out and use the hazelnut with some raspberry and mascarpone to make some brioche sandwich number but actually never made it that far. It lasted about as long as it took to toast some fresh brioche loaf, smear over the hazelnut caramel and BAM - down the hatch. Ahh well. Tasted good and if you have more discipline than I do, try the sandwich concoction and let me know how you go. And never fear for those of us not living in Vic - you can order online. Few!

Ingredients

4 - 6 large croissants, halved

4 bananas, peeled, halved lengthways

½ cup cream

¼ cup milk

3 eggs

40g caster sugar

2 heaped teaspoons ground cardamom

½ cup Caramelicious vanilla caramel

Vanilla ice cream to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 150C.

Line the base of 4 oven-proof ramekins with the base pieces of croissant. Top with 1 tablespoon of dulche con leche and cover with slices of banana. Place over the croissant top and press down gently. Repeat with remaining croissants, caramel and bananas in the other ramekins.

Add the cream, milk, eggs, caster sugar and cardamom to a jug. Whisk lightly to combine. Pour over the top of the croissant pudding until ¾ covered. Spoon over any left over caramel con leche.  Place the ramekins in a large roasting pan. Fill the pan with hot water to the same level as the top of the ramekins. Place in the oven and cook for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for about 10 minutes before serving  with vanilla ice cream.

I'd post a recipe for the brioche and hazelnut caramel if there was anything more to it than toast,smear and eat.