Sweet Corn Budini with Fresh Basil

Purée corn kernels in a food processor, then transfer to a saucepan and add corn cobs and cream; heat to a simmer over medium, then reduce heat to low, and steep 30 minutes. Gently scrape cobs to extract milk; discard cobs. Strain corn cream through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding solids. (If you don’t have 2 cups strained liquid, top it off with additional cream.)

Preheat oven to 300°. Coat six, 8-ounce custard cups with nonstick spray; set inside a baking dish. Heat a kettle of water to a boil.

Mince basil with sugar in a mini food processor.

Heat corn cream and basil sugar in a saucepan over medium, stirring until sugar dissolves; decrease heat to low.

Whisk together yolks and eggs in a bowl.

Slowly drizzle corn mixture into eggs, whisking constantly, then whisk back into pan to heat custard through.

Off heat, whisk mascarpone into custard until melted; divide among prepared cups. Transfer baking dish with custards to oven and pour boiling water one-third of the way up sides of cups; cover baking dish tightly with foil.

Bake budini until edges are set and centers are slightly jiggly, 1 hour, 10 minutes to 1¼ hours. Remove baking dish from oven, let budini come to room temperature in water, then remove from water, cover each with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

To release budini from cups, dip bottoms in hot water, then slide a knife around the edge to turn them out onto plates.