Crème Caramel with Cointreau

Adapted from the French culinary site Marmiton, this recipe upgrades the classic recipe by adding orange juice to the caramel and popular orange-flavoured liqueur Cointreau to the crème.

Caramel:
sugar (200 g)
1 orange, freshly squeezed

Crème:
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
sugar (150 g)
milk (800 mL)
Cointreau (30 mL)

First, preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4) and prepare the bain-marie.

Beat the eggs and the egg yolks well. Take a medium saucepan, put the eggs and sugar in it and turn the heat on to lowest setting. Gradually add the milk until the mixture is smooth.

Put the mixture in a bottle, close well and shake vigorously for 2 minutes.

Now, prepare the caramel by mixing sugar and orange and cooking it in another saucepan on low heat, until the sugar has melted and turned golden brown.

Pour the caramel to cover the bottom of the ramekins - the layer should be ½ cm thick. Slowly pour in the cream and cook in a bain-marie for 55 minutes.

Cool in a refrigerator, invert, remove the ramekins and serve.