Caramel Chantilly cream for panettone or pandoro (or anything you like, really)

I'm not sure why my highly intelligent blog has been publishing photos (like the one above) without my permission and most of all before I have a chance to write down the recipe and stuff. Anyway, this Chantilly cream is to die for and everyone, and I cannot stress that "everyone" enough, should try it. One look at the recipe and you'll see that it's incredibly rich, which is the reason why we eat only once a year for Christmas. As the title suggests, we eat it with panettone or pandoro -the two most typical Italian Christmas staples- but I bet tht it's good on any type of cake or, as the Kitchen Witch suggests, with spoon.

The caramel Chantilly cream is one of those grandma's recipe. This particular grandma's name was Licia and she was my sisters' grandma. Or maybe I should call them "half sisters" to make everything clearer, but I've never used the term because it makes it sound like I don't like them. Which isn't true. I love them to death. And when she was alive I loved their grandma Licia and her fabolous cooking. She hailed from Piedmont and cooked meals fit for a king. They were never light, nor diet-friendly, but they were always delicious. Also, they were her meals and her recipes. And when someone would ask her for the recipe she would give it to them. Only, she would not give the right one. We are not sure if it was because she didn't really have a recipe in the modern sense of the term -she tended to cook by "feeling", not by measuring- or if it was just that she wanted her version to be better and therefore "forgot" to mention an ingredient or two.

Fact is, to this day, whenever we are sitting and eating caramel Chantilly cream we think of her and we laugh because, to this day, our version is not as good as hers. And it will never be.

CARAMEL CHANTILLY SAUCE

1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons sugar
5 egg yolks

Mix whipping cream and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a large bowl. Whip with a whisk or with a mixer and place in the fridge.

Put 5 tablespoon of sugar in a small heavy pan with two tablespoons of water. Heat over medium heat until sugar melts and turns into caramel. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl mix four tablespoons of sugar, flour and egg yolks. Slowly stir in milk. Stir to combine. Stir mixture into the pan with the caramel and out it back on the stove over low heat. Stir constantly until the two are well blended. Remove from heat and let cool in the fridge.

Right before serving mix the caramel mixture with the whipped cream.