Crème Brulee

Ingredients

Sugar Crust

Let it be known I love Creme Brûlée. To me, it is the mark of a good restaurant if they can nail this, so it’s rather a dangerous thing for me to learn to make. No one in my house likes it, so I will have to learn to reduce this recipe so it makes one serving…. Please, who am I kidding! That won’t happen, but they do keep in the fridge for about week.

The only difficult part of this is first, keeping the water from the water bath out of the custards, and second, the Blow Torching.

I made sure I had silicone oven gloves on when I caramelized it, as it was a little scary (as you can see from the picture I put too much sugar on them and got a bit freaked out by the flame, [Fire Marshall Bill flashbacks]), plus all I had was a massive propane torch from Home Depot. I do recommend using the kitchen version as it is less stress inducing. Even less stress inducing is placing them in your oven under the Broil setting until they caramelize and give that great crack. You have to watch them closely because there’s no point burning them after cooking them for so long.

1.  Pre Heat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine Heavy Cream & Vanilla, continue to stir over a medium heat for about 7-10 minutes until mixture starts to bubble, almost to a simmer.
3. Set aside, cover and cool for about 15 minutes.
4. In regular bowl whisk together 1/2 Cup Sugar and the Egg Yolks until well blended & lightens in color.
5. Add the Cream mixture a little at a time while you are whisking constantly or you will get vanilla scrambled eggs) until all combined.
6. Pour mixture into ramekins (7 to 8 oz) leave a little room at the top, they don’t rise but the edge will protect your fingers or countertop when you torch the top.
7. Place in a cake pan or Pyrex dish and place in the oven then pour enough hot water so it goes about half way up the sides of the ramekins. (take care not to get any water in the custards, place the pan in the oven first and then add the water you may have to remove the top rack of the oven it makes it easier)
8. Bake at 325 degrees for about 40 – 45 minutes until set but still jiggly in the center.
9. Remove from the oven and water bath and refrigerate  for at least 2 hours or overnight.
10. Leave out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes before you caramelize them, sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of sugar on the top of each custard and shake until it is spread evenly over the top.
11. Melt the sugar with the torch or under the broiler until quite dark but not burned, the ramekins get hot so I do suggest either leaving them on a oven tray or holding them with Silicone Gloves
12. Let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.