Baked Savory Custard With Cheese

• 2 cups cream, half-and-half or milk
• 1 sprig thyme, optional
• 1 clove garlic, optional
• 3 eggs plus 2 yolks
• Pinch cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup grated semihard cheese, like Gruyere, Comte or Emmenthal
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1. Put cream in a small pot with thyme and garlic, if you're using them.
2. Cook just until it begins to steam.
3. Heat oven to 300 degrees and set a kettle of water to boil.
4. Put eggs, cayenne and salt in a medium bowl and whisk or beat until blended; stir in the cheese.
5. Remove thyme and garlic from cream, then add cream gradually to egg mixture, whisking constantly.
6. Pour mixture into a 1-quart dish or into 4 ramekins or custard cups.
7. Put dish or ramekins in a deep baking pan and pour boiling water in, to within about 1 inch of top of dish or ramekins.
8. Bake until mixture is not quite set; it should jiggle a bit in middle.
9. This will take about 30 minutes for ramekins and longer for baking dish; also, cream sets faster than milk.
10. Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold within a few hours of baking.

cream, thyme, clove garlic, eggs, cayenne, salt, semihard cheese, parmesan

Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11944 (may not work)