Active Time

　　20 min

　　Total Time

　　1 1/2 hr

　　This simple sauce is delicious drizzled over the poppy-seed sweet bread or the rum raisin apple pie.

Ingredients

　　2 cups whole milk

　　4 large egg yolks

　　1/4 cup sugar

　　1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Special Equipment

　　Bring milk with a pinch of salt to a simmer in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Whisk together yolks and sugar in a bowl until combined, then add hot milk mixture in a slow stream, whisking. Transfer custard to same saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats back of a spoon and thermometer registers 170 to 175°F. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and stir in vanilla. Cover surface of custard with a round of wax paper and chill until cold, at least 1 hour.

　　Cooks' note:

　　Sauce can be chilled up to 3 days.