Yield 16 large Canelés

Ingredients
3 ¼ cups milk
1 vanilla bean, split
3 eggs
2 tablespoons dark rum
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ cups all purpose flour

Two day before you plan to bake these, combine the milk and vanilla bean in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat off and let the milk cool. Cover and chill over night to infuse flavor.

The next day, melt the butter and let cool slightly. Whisk the eggs into the chilled milk mixture, then whisk in the rum and butter. Add the sugar and flour and whisk to combine, or use an emersion blender to blend all the ingredients. Chill over night.

Thickly butter the Canelé molds and chill to firm up the butter. Some chefs use bees wax or a combination of butter and bees wax. Whisk the batter one more time and pour into the molds filling them almost full, leaving ¼ inch at the top for them to rise up. Bake at 400 till very dark brown but still eggy in the center, about 50-60 minutes. Turn out of the molds while still warm.