A rich, luxurious pot du creme made with hickory nut milk. Makes 8 4 oz ramekins or roughly 32 oz of custard that can be cooked in different vessels depending on what you have.
Crack the hickory nuts individually and inspect every one for any signs of rancidity or spoiled nuts. Just one nut will ruin the whole batch. This is only really an issue if your nuts are stored at room temperature.
Take the cracked nuts and pound or crush them, shell and all using whatever method you have available. Traditionally a bootagen is used, but I use the dry bowl of a vitamix. You can also just bash the nuts up with a hammer as well as you can and you’ll still get a good flavor, it just won’t be as potent.
When the nuts and shells are crushed up, add them to a 2 quart saucepot along with the water and bring to a simmer. Cook this for 20 minutes. After twenty minutes, stir the mixture for a minute, then stop. You will notice the nut shells sink to the bottom. Carefully ladle the (mostly) shell-free nut milk from the top, leaving the shells in the bottom of the pot.
At this point, I pour a fresh batch of water (4 cups again) over the nut shells and make a weaker batch of hickory milk. If you want to combine the first and second batches of nut milk and reduce it for a stronger flavor, you can do that, it just takes a little extra time to reduce it.
Pot du creme
Reduce the first batch of nut milk until only 1 cup remains., then pour it into another container, rinse out the pot, and reserve.
Heat the butter and brown sugar in the pot until sizzling and the butter is melted, then add the brandy and cook for 2 minutes on medium-high heat.
Add the cream, nut milk, salt, and pinch of cinnamon and heat through just until the sugar is melted, whisking occasionally. It does not need to boil.
Allow the mixture to cool for a bit-I like to put the bottom of a metal pot in a sink of cold water and whisk it to lower the heat until it's just above body temperature, about 100F.
Baking
Preheat the oven to 300 F
When the mixture is slightly cooled enough to not cook the eggs, add the mixture to a blender, along with the egg yolks. Puree this, then strain into a container you can pour from, like a small pitcher.
Arrange 8 4 oz jelly jars or ramekins in a wide pot with high sides, dividing the custard evenly between them and leaving at least ½-1/4 inch headspace.
Fill the pot with hot water that should come up ½-3/4 of the height of the jars. Transfer the pan with the pot du creme to the oven and cook for 30 minutes, or until just barely set. Remove the custards from the oven and allow to cool in the pan until room temperature, then screw on the lids and refrigerate until needed.
The custards will last for 5 days.
Serving
Top each custard with a spoonful of whipped cream and a few toasted hickory nuts, if you want.