Julia Child's Cinnamon Toast Flan

As sad as it is, this is the first recipe of Julia Child's that I've made. Being the true inspiration for this blog, one would think her recipes would be highlighted a bit more.  However, her recipes are somewhat.... difficult. She did "master the art of French cooking" after all...

This recipe is for a bread pudding.

How difficult could a bread pudding be?? When I first read the ingredients, I was delightfully surprised at the simplicity of them.  And then I read the instructions and was brought back down to reality.  Yup... her recipes are tough.  Who would have thought you had to whisk egg yolks to yield the perfect "yellow ribbon".  What exactly is a yellow ribbon of eggs supposed to look like??

I whisked them until I thought they looked right. That's usually not a good idea (unless you're Julia Child, of course).

Did you know you had to make a custard to add to the bread slices before you actually baked everything? I was always under the impression you could add all of the ingredients at once and watch the magic happen.  Apparently things don't work like that in France.

The one easy part was making cinnamon toast.  Yeah, I can do that.  Although, the recipe said to broil the cinnamon sugar topped bread.

I'm going to be honest for a second....Please don't judge.

I'm still a little lost on what exactly broiling is...

Okay, I said it.  Moving on.

Needless to say, I ignored that pesky word, "broil", and just put the toast on a cookie sheet.

In the end, cinnamon toast is cinnamon toast.  Regardless of the path it took.

Now, for someone who is extremely impatient and has never made a custard before, this was the frustrating part.  When do I need to stop whisking it? How thick does it need to be?? Why do I need a sieve?? Is a sieve the same thing as a strainer? Is this supposed to be so dang clumpy? Why is this so difficult?!

Let me tell you, this recipe was a challenge.  I highly recommend trying it though. It is Julia Child after all. I found it to be a bit too mushy for my taste, so next time I'm going to skip the hot water bath that the dish had to sit in.  The part of the dish that sat in the water during baking turned out a lot less thickened than the rest of it.  It still satisfies the sweet tooth and with a little tweaking (and improving of cooking skills), this recipe could be très bonne!

I'm sorry to do this to you, but I just can't resist....

I'm trying to show restraint with these Wilson pictures, but so far, not so good.

p.s... you can get the recipe here!