Almond Pudding

Ingredients

• butter (for the molds)
• 500 ml milk
• 0.5 Vanilla pod
• 1 pinch salt
• 60 g Butter
• 65 g flour
• 60 g ground almond kernels
• 5 eggs
• 125 g sugar
• 0.5 tsp lemon zest
• 2 tbsp almond liqueur
• 2 tbsp flaked almonds
• 350 g strawberries
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar (optional more or less)
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1.5 tsp cornstarch
• 300 ml milk
• 1 vanilla pod
• powdered sugar (for dusting)
• 4 chocolate decoration leaves
• mint

Instructions

1. 1.

   Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease the ramekins well.

2. 2.

   Bring half of the milk with the pulp and whole vanilla pod, salt and butter to a boil. Whisk the remaining milk with flour and ground almonds until smooth, stir into the boiling milk and simmer gently for 5 minutes while stirring. Remove the vanilla pod and let cool slightly. Beat in one egg.

3. 3.

   Separate the remaining four eggs. Whip the whites into stiff peaks and set aside cold.

4. 4.

   Whisk the yolks with sugar until fluffy. Stir in lemon zest and almond liqueur into the froth.

5. 5.

   Fold in the cooled batter, add almonds and fold in the meringue. Pour mixture into molds and bake for about 20 minutes until golden yellow.

6. 6.

   Wash, pit, drain and cut strawberries into pieces. Set aside four nice ones for garnish. Puree remaining strawberries with a stick blender and strain through fine sieve into a bowl. Press pulp with a spoon so only seeds remain in the sieve. Sift powdered sugar over pulp, sweeten to taste and refrigerate until needed.

7. 7.

   Meanwhile, separate eggs for vanilla sauce: whisk yolks with sugar, starch and about 50 ml milk. Split vanilla pod, add remaining milk to pot and bring to boil. Remove from heat and let sit covered for ~10 minutes. Discard pod. Stir in whisked yolk, return pot to stove and gently heat (do not boil) until sauce thickens. Whisk egg whites stiffly and gradually fold into vanilla sauce. Pour sauce onto four shallow plates and drizzle 2–3 tbsp strawberry pulp decoratively.

8. 8.

   Remove molds from oven, carefully lift pudding, place on vanilla-strawberry sauce and dust with powdered sugar. Garnish with remaining quartered strawberries, chocolate decoration and mint leaves.