Coconut Custards with Spiced baked Red Wine Plums - Testing

Makes 6 ramekins

1 - The custards didn't set. The recipe says about 25 to 30 minutes, I had them in there for an hour, and even at the end of an hour turned off the oven and left them in the cooling oven, and they still didn't set. Looking at my other Coconut Custard recipe, the notes are that it also took much longer than 20 minutes. Looking at my Custard Pie and my Hot Chocolate Pie recipes, the pies take about 40 minutes of direct heat to set. Even custard-free versions I found online indicate 45 to 50 minutes. I know that the timing is wrong, so I have two options - 1: just use direct heat, and 2: add whole egg.

The baked plums worked a treat, though, especially with going lighter with the spicing.

Coconut custards

750g light coconut milk 

1½ tsp vanilla

Pinch of salt

6 egg yolks (OR try 2 eggs and 3 yolks)

60 g sugar

1. Heat the coconut milk, vanilla, and salt until steaming but not boiling.
2. Whisk the yolks with the sugar until smooth.
3. Slowly whisk in the hot coconut mixture, 
4. Strain through a fine sieve.
5. Divide among 6 ramekins (about 125 g custard mixture per ramekin).
6. Place the ramekins in a baking dish and pour in hot water until it comes halfway up their sides. (OR try without the bain marie)
7. Bake at 325°F/160°C for 1hour, until the edges are set and the centres still wobble slightly.
8. Cool completely, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

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Spiced plum compote

About 750 g ripe plums (depending on size), halved and pitted

180 mL red wine (about 180 g)

45 g brown sugar

1 bay leaf

1 small star anise

1 cinnamon stick

3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed

3 whole cloves

Toasted Walnuts - To Serve

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Halve the plums and remove the stones. Place in a single layer in a lidded ovenproof dish (foil on top is fine) just large enough to hold them, cut sides down. Combine the wine, spices and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Pour over the plums.
3. Cover and bake. Depending on the ripeness of the plums, this can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour - the softer the plum, the faster the cooking time. Test with a skewer for doneness. 
4. Let cool in the liquid.
5. If you want a thicker poaching liquid, remove the liquid to a saucepan and bring to a rapid simmer to reduce until the desired viscosity is achieved.
6. To serve warm, add the plums at this point and gently cook another 2 minutes.
7. If to serve at room temperature or chilled, let the liquid cool to the same temperature as the plums before serving.

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To serve

1. Spoon 30–45 g plum compote over each chilled custard and drizzle with 5–10 g reduced wine syrup.
2. If you have them, a few toasted walnuts scattered on top would be wonderful.