I wanted custard bao, but didn’t want to go to Chinatown, so I did a bit of research. ??The internet seems to think that the filling is an egg custard, and I found a nice recipe using Bird’s custard powder—but I don’t have any and don’t know where to get it other than by special order. However, it did look like I should be able to make something that approximated it by making a cr??me anglaise with coconut milk.
Coconut milk:
- 1c finely shredded coconut
- 1c hot water
Soak until the water cools to lukewarm, then pour through cheesecloth or a fine-mesh strainer. Press out as much liquid as possible.
Cr??me d’Anglaise with coconut milk
- 4 egg yolks
- .5c of your coconut milk
- .5c sweetened condensed milk
Heat milks, pour half into whisked eggs, pour all into pan Heat, stirring constantly, until it turns into small balls of scrambled eggs (or, ideally, a pudding.) 
If you have the scrambled egg version, continue heating until most of the liquid boils off. If you have a pudding, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Cool.
At this point, fill your buns with the pudding. Steam 10-12 minutes until the bread is fluffy.
Because I made a double-batch of bao dough, I also wrapped other random things in it: cubes of cheese, some chocolate ganache (better when I rolled it like a rugalah than when I put it in a ball) and some seitan apple-sage sausages. They were all okay, but I think the dough needs more experimentation—the recipe from our bread book is meant to be baked bao, and it’s not quite the right fluffy texture when steamed. They also *really* don’t keep—the next day they could be eaten only if microwaved in a damp towel for 15s, and the day after they were inedible. 
Stuff Kat Made 