Baby egg custard

This is a baby food recipe for healthy, high-fibre custard. Containing pears or any other fruit your baby loves, this baby custard recipe has healthy micronutrients like zinc, iron and calcium to give your baby the best start in life.

Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 40 minutes Difficulty rating: Easy

Age recommendation: Suitable for babies 8 months and older when made with expressed breastmilk or formula. Suitable for babies from 9 months when made with cow’s milk.

Ingredients

Makes 10 serves

• 4 medium pears (400 g)
• 4 egg yolks (100 g)
• 2 cups expressed breastmilk, formula or regular cow’s milk
• ½ cup water

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C.
• Wash, peel, core and dice pears.
• Place pears in a wok (for even heat distribution) or a large pan and cook with the water on high for 10 minutes. Cover with a lid and stir a couple of times as it cooks. The pear will turn a deeper yellow, and be mushy when it is ready.
• Put the pears in a food processor until smooth.
• Create your own bain-marie by placing a dish inside a baking tray. Pour cold tap water into the baking tray so that the water comes half way up the dish. Place the pears in the dish.
• Whisk egg yolks with milk and pour over the top of the pears.
• Place in the oven for 35–40 minutes until the custard firms and browns slightly.

Tips

• Place in small containers and freeze – as long as they are frozen immediately, these can be used in the fridge later for 2 days at a time.
• Pear can be replaced with your baby’s other favourite cooked fruits such as stewed apple or uncooked mashed banana.
• Breastmilk is the ideal source of nutrients for your baby – where possible, use expressed breastmilk in this recipe instead of cow’s milk or formula. However, cow’s milk cab be introduced in cooked foods from 9 months of age and is an excellent source of protein, calcium and other nutrients for your baby at this age.
• Avoid reduced-fat cow’s milk or milk substitutes (e.g. soy) until your child is at least two years of age.
• Do not add sugar, honey or salt to this recipe. These are unhealthy foods which your baby does not need. The pear provides sufficient sweetness as cooking it brings out the flavour and makes it sweeter.

Nutritional content

Nutritional analysis per 100 gram serve:*

* Nutritional values based on using regular cow’s milk. Values would differ if formula or expressed breastmilk were used instead.

References

1. National Health and Medical Research Council. Dietary guidelines for children and adolescents in Australia, incorporating the infant feeding guidelines for health workers. 2003 (cited 16 January 2012). Available from: URL Link
2. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand. Australian Nutrient Reference Database. 2007 (cited 16 January 2012). Available from: URL Link
3. Queensland Health. Introduction to Solids. 2008. (cited 1 October 2012). Available from: URL Link