French TV cook Laurent Mariotte has just revisited the most old-school of family desserts, egg custard, and quietly dropped its two usual stars: vanilla and caramel. In their place, he brings in a very northern French ingredient that shifts the entire flavour profile without turning the recipe into a complicated chef’s challenge.
From school canteen pudding to grown-up comfort dessert
Egg custard, or crème aux œufs, is as basic as it gets: milk, eggs, sugar, slow baking. Many French people link it to school lunches or Sunday meals at their grandparents’ house. It’s familiar, soft, and rarely exciting.
Laurent Mariotte leans into that nostalgia but gives it a different accent. No vanilla pods. No burnt caramel topping. The recipe stays ultra-simple and budget-friendly, but the taste becomes deeper, slightly toasted, and far more aromatic.
Same texture, same comfort, but a flavour that moves from blandly sweet to gently roasted and almost coffee-like.
The trick lies in swapping vanilla for an emblematic product from northern France: chicory, made from roasted roots that are ground and used much like coffee.
Chicory, the caffeine-free star of the North
Chicory has long been associated with breakfast in the north of France and Belgium. Before espresso machines invaded every kitchen, many families drank hot chicory with milk, especially when coffee was too expensive.
It comes from the root of the chicory plant, which is cleaned, dried, roasted, and ground. In shops, it can be found as grains or as a soluble powder that dissolves in hot liquid.
Chicory tastes slightly bitter, roasted and nutty, a bit like mild coffee mixed with caramel, but without any caffeine.
In Mariotte’s version of egg custard, chicory slides into the role normally given to vanilla. Instead of a floral, sweet note, it brings a more grown-up flavour that still works beautifully with milk and sugar.
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Why it works so well in custard
- The milk absorbs the roasted aromas during a gentle infusion.
- The eggs and sugar soften chicory’s slight bitterness.
- The final custard sits between coffee dessert and caramel cream.
- No caffeine means you can serve it at night without fear of insomnia.
Laurent Mariotte’s chicory egg custard: ingredients and basic method
The recipe keeps to the “cupboard and fridge” philosophy: nothing fancy, nothing hard to find. For six people, you need:
- 500 ml whole milk
- 6 eggs
- 75 g light cane sugar
- 2 tbsp chicory grains, or 1 tbsp soluble chicory
The steps follow the classic custard technique, with only one extra move: infusing the chicory in warm milk.
Step-by-step: from milk pan to ramekins
First, the milk is heated with the chicory. The mixture is kept just below boiling point and left to infuse for around 30 minutes. This slow contact time lets the roasted flavours develop without going harsh or burnt.
Once infused, the milk is strained to remove the grains if you’re using them. In a separate bowl, eggs and sugar are whisked together until slightly foamy. The warm chicory milk is then poured over, little by little, while whisking to avoid scrambling the eggs.
This simple infusion step turns plain milk into a deeply flavoured base, without any syrups, artificial aromas or extra caramel.
The mixture is then divided between cups or small bowls. These go into a larger oven dish, which is filled with hot water to create a bain-marie. The tray is covered with baking paper or foil and baked at a low temperature, around 125°C with fan, for roughly 45 to 50 minutes.
Perfect cooking: slight wobble, no bubbles
Egg custard punishes high heat. If the oven is too hot, the eggs seize up, curdle and release water. You end up with a grainy, spongy dessert instead of a smooth cream.
Mariotte’s gentle baking method keeps the texture silky. The key is to look, not poke: the centre of each custard should still tremble slightly when you move the tray, while the edges are set and firm.
Bubbles on the surface signal that the custard has boiled or overcooked. Covering the dish and using a bain-marie with hot, not boiling, water reduces that risk. Once baked, the ramekins cool to room temperature, then rest in the fridge until completely cold.
How to serve it like a northerner
Chilled custards pair very well with the biscuits of northern France and Belgium. Instead of a caramel layer, you get crunch from the side.
| Accompaniment | Effect on flavour |
|---|---|
| Speculoos crumbs | Spices and caramel notes echo the chicory |
| Vergeoise shortbread | Soft brown sugar boosts the toasted aromas |
| Simple butter biscuit | Neutral crunch, lets the custard lead |
A spoonful of whipped cream or a drizzle of cold pouring cream can soften the profile if you’re serving guests who are nervous about bitterness.
For home cooks: swaps, tweaks and timing
Chicory is not yet a staple in every US or UK kitchen, but coffee substitutes and cereal coffees often sit in the same supermarket aisle. Those products, provided they are chicory-based, can be used in a similar way.
If you like stronger flavours, use the grain version and extend the infusion by 10 minutes. For a lighter touch, stick to soluble chicory and add slightly less than a tablespoon on your first try.
This dessert can be prepared the day before, which makes it a calm, low-stress option for a winter dinner party.
Keep the ramekins in the fridge, covered, and add any crumbs or biscuits only at the last moment so they stay crunchy.
Chicory, bitterness and kids: what to expect
Many children associate dessert with pure sweetness, so the roasted note may surprise them. A practical approach is to prepare half the batch with chicory and half with a more familiar flavour, like vanilla or a touch of cocoa. Same base, different infusions.
For those who like coffee desserts such as tiramisu or coffee ice cream, this chicory custard feels familiar, just gentler. The big difference: no caffeine, which lowers the risk of restless nights after a generous second serving.
Beyond custard: other easy ways to use chicory at home
Once a jar of chicory is open, it needn’t sit in the back of the cupboard. A small spoonful can replace part of the coffee in tiramisu cream, bringing depth without pushing the caffeine level too high.
Mixed into hot milk with a little sugar, it becomes a comforting drink that tastes like a lighter café au lait. In baking, a pinch of soluble chicory in brownie batter or chocolate cake adds complexity, much like instant coffee does, but again with no stimulant effect.
For those watching caffeine late in the day or during pregnancy, this kind of ingredient lets you keep the roasted flavours that usually come from coffee, while staying on the safe side. Paired with simple bases like custard, rice pudding or semolina pudding, chicory offers a quiet way of refreshing old-fashioned puddings without changing their spirit.