Free Dining With The Doctor: The Unauthorized Whovian Cookbook by Chris-Rachael Oseland Page B

isn’t to boil the milk. You want to keep it nice and smooth. While the cream is gently heating, whisk your egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl. Once the cream starts to bubble at the edges, pull the pan off the heat and stir in the egg yolk mixture. Gently mix it together. Add in the vanilla, then keep mixing it some more.
    Heavily butter half a dozen small ramekins. Equally distribute the custard between the ramekins. Place the ramekins in a baking pan, and add one inch of boiling water. Put the pan in an oven and bake the custards at 350F/177C for 40-45 minutes, or until the center is set enough that the middle barely jiggles.
    Take the ramekins out of the pan and let them rest for 10 minutes. Cover them with foil, then put them in a fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
    Before serving, sprinkle the top of each burnt custard with one teaspoon of sugar. Pop them under a hot broiler and let them cook for two to five minutes, or until the sugar is caramelized and browned, but not burnt. If you have a kitchen torch, have fun using that to caramelize the sugar instead. Any excuse to cook with fire is a good one
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Scarecrow Soldiers (S3E9 - Human Nature)
     

Popcorn Balls:
18 cups/150 g popped popcorn
2 cups/450 g sugar
1 1/3 cups/310 ml water
½ cup/170 ml light corn syrup
1 tsp/5 ml white vinegar
1 tsp/5 ml vanilla
½ tsp/2.5 g salt

Scarecrow Coating:
2 cups/900 g creamy peanut butter
shredded wheat cereal or corn flakes
regular sized chocolate chips
mini chocolate chips
     
    Close to Halloween, Americans can find pre-made popcorn balls alongside the rest of the seasonal bagged candy. Feel free to save yourself some hassle by purchasing them. The rest of the year, you’re going to have to make these for yourself, just like Whovians all over the rest of the world. Luckily, it’s not that hard.
    Fill all your largest bowls about halfway with popped popcorn. It’s okay if you look like half your kitchen is spread out on your dining room table.
    Once that’s done, pour your corn syrup, water, vinegar and sugar into a saucepan. Cook it all over a high heat until it reaches 255F/124C on a candy thermometer or achieves the “hard ball” state of candy making. If the Tardis matrix won’t translate that into real cooking terms for you, just stir frequently until the sugar is completely dissolved and everything seems pretty thick. The recipe is forgiving. Just before you take the mix off the heat, stir in the vanilla.
    Now quickly and carefully pour the sugary mix over your popcorn. Try to drizzle it as evenly as possible over as much of the popcorn as you can. This is why you’re using so many bowls. Toss each bowl gently so the popcorn within is evenly coated. Once you’re out of syrup and all your popcorn has been tossed, it’s time to turn it into ovals. You were expecting balls, but honestly, the scarecrows in this episode had decidedly squarish rounded heads.
    As soon as the mix is cool enough to touch, grease your hands up with butter or olive oil (for the vegans and vegetarians). Press the popcorn into baseball sized balls. Squeeze the balls into more rounded off rectangles or ovals. Just make sure the bottom is flat so they'll stay upright when served. These will become your scarecrow heads. Let them cool on a sheet of waxed paper.
    Go wash your hands and get your scarecrow coating ready. This part is pretty easy, too.
    Soften your two cups of peanut butter in the microwave. You don’t want to cook it. The goal here is to temporarily turn it into a thick liquid. Stir and check it every 15-30 seconds. While your peanut butter is softening, crumble two cups of your shredded wheat or corn flakes. This will provide the straw texture for your scarecrow heads.
    Now roll each popcorn ball in the peanut butter. Put the peanut buttery balls on a sheet of waxed paper. While the peanut butter is still plenty soft, arrange the crumbled cereal along the base so it looks like straw sticking out of