Wherever you travel, there are 3 kinds of creamy desserts you'll find the world over. Mousse, pudding, and custard are universal favorites and knowing how to make them is a good skill to have.

Mousse is a popular creamy dessert. It relies primarily on egg whites that are whipped to a froth and then folded with other ingredients for an airy, unique texture.

And pudding is another dessert favorite. In America, at least, pudding is typically the term assigned to a milk or cream-based dessert which is thickened by starch. Usually, but not always, cornstarch.

Then there's custard. Custard is pudding's eggy cousin. The New Food Lover's Companion defines custard as a dessert made with a sweetened mixture of milk and eggs that can be either baked or stirred using gentle heat. Crème brulee is a custard, for instance. And so is flan. It has a layer of soft caramel on top, as opposed to crème brûlée, which is custard with a hard caramel top.

To summarize: there are blurred lines. While there is a general division between mousse, pudding, and custard, recipes cross the borders all the time. I've found they're all fun to make and always enjoyed. So it just depends on the end result you want. Mousse is a very light creamy dessert; pudding is a little heavier creamy dessert; and custard is the heaviest creamy dessert.

The thing I love about custard, however, is that it can be savory (think quiche) as well as sweet. If you master the basic custard-making techniques, you're set for either type of dish-savory or sweet.

That said, here then, are the steps to making a basic baked custard. I give credit to www.wikihow.com for this clear and simple instruction:

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Step 2: Whisk eggs, milk, sugar, and salt together in a small bowl until the ingredients are completely blended.

Step 3: Pour the ingredients into 4 ungreased 8 oz. custard cups. Sprinkle the ingredients with a dash of ground cinnamon and a dash of ground nutmeg.

Step 4:

Place the custard cups in a 13 x 9-in baking pan. Pour hot water up to ³⁄₄ inch in the pan.

Step 5: Bake the cups uncovered for 50-55 minutes. Bake them until a knife inserted near the center of the custard comes out clean. Remove the cups to a wire rack so they can cool.

Step 6: Serve. This baked custard can be enjoyed warm or chilled. If wanting to serve it cold, chill it for at least an hour. Whether warm or chilled, it's delicious topped with sweetened whipped cream (what isn't, actually?).

A delicious variation on the standard baked custard is to pour some caramel sauce into your custard cups before pouring in the custard filling. Then you bake in the pan of water as usual.

The caramel sauce is nothing more than ¾ cup of sugar slowly melted in a heavy saucepan (taking great care not to burn it). Once liquefied, there's your caramel sauce!

Now to close, here's Wiki How's recipe for basic baked custard dessert. Once you've tried this, consider going the savory route for a delicious breakfast entrée (this recipe follows as well).

BASIC BAKED CUSTARD

2 eggs

2 cups milk

1/3 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

Dash ground cinnamon

Dash ground nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Whisk eggs, milk, sugar, and salt together in a small bowl until the ingredients are completely blended. Pour the ingredients into 4 ungreased 8 oz. custard cups Sprinkle the ingredients with a dash of ground cinnamon and a dash of ground nutmeg.

Place the custard cups in a 13 x 9-in baking pan. Pour hot water up to ³⁄₄ inch in the pan. Bake the cups uncovered for 50-55 minutes. Bake them until a knife inserted near the center of the custard comes out clean. Remove the cups to a wire rack so they can cool. Serve. This baked custard can be enjoyed warm or chilled. If wanting to serve it cold, chill it for at least an hour.

Now let's talk quiche-the savory version of custard. A great site, Incredible Egg (www.incredibleegg.org) shares super tips on how to turn out the perfect quiche:

ü If using frozen pie shell, choose the deep-dish size. Always bake your pie shell first to avoid a soggy crust.

ü For a non-traditional "crust", mix cooked rice, orzo, spinach or hash browns with a beaten egg and press it into a greased quiche dish or pie plate.

ü Individual quiches can be baked in pastry tart shells, muffin tins or hollowed out vegetables (bell peppers or tomatoes, for instance).

ü Make fillings from your favorite foods or from leftovers. Use a combination of cheese, meat, seafood or poultry and vegetables.

ü Filling ingredients should be cooked, not raw. Pieces should be cut fairly small and drained well. (Classic fillings combinations: Cheddar cheese and ham; sautéed onion, bacon and Swiss Gruyere cheese.)

ü The pie crust protects the custard filling from direct oven heat, so a water bath is not necessary. BUT if a crust-less quiche is wanted, then fill a well-greased pie pan and place it in a water bath.

ü Baked quiche should be removed from the oven before the center is completely set. The center will jiggle slightly when it's gently shaken. Quiche will continue "cooking" after removal; center will firm up quickly.

ü Over-baked quiche may curdle.

ü Test for doneness by inserting a thin-bladed knife about 1 inch from the center of quiche; midway between center and edge of cups. If knife is clean when pulled out, the quiche is done. If any quiche clings to the blade, bake a few minutes longer and retest.

ü Cheese fillings: Quiche fillings containing cheese may continue to test "wet" even after they are done. Tap or gently shake the dish; remove quiche from oven when the center is almost set but still jiggles a bit.

ü For richer quiche, substitute half-and-half for milk.

PERFECT QUICHE

1 cup shredded cheese (4 ounces at least)

1 baked 9-inch pie crust

1 cup filling (see below)

FILLING:

6 eggs

1 cup milk

½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves OR other dried herb

½ teaspoon sea or kosher salt

Heat oven to 375°F. Spread cheese evenly in bottom of baked pie shell. Beat eggs, milk, thyme, and salt in medium bowl until blended. Carefully pour this filling over cheese in an even layer. Bake quiche until center is almost set but jiggles slightly when dish is gently shaken and knife inserted near center comes out clean, approximately 30 to 40 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into wedges.

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