creme brûlée

12:29 PM

Hi everyone! Today I have an amazing recipe to share with you all! My all-time favorite dessert, creme brûlée! I would always buy this delicate dessert at restaurants, and it would still be a hit and miss. Sometimes too runny, sometimes too thick. Always expensive. You can make a whole batch of creme brûlée for the price of one at a restaurant! So I decided to give it a try at home. I thought it would be difficult, but surprisingly, it wasn't. At all. There are only a few steps involved and it is much easier than baking a cake! And it turns out aaaaaamazing every time! The cream has a perfect, smooth texture and an awesome vanilla flavor. The top is crunchy and hard and so caramely. It's delicious! This is why I love creme brûlée. 

I made creme brûlée, using this (adapted) recipe, three times this summer. Once for a surprise for my husband and two times for family dinners. Everyone really enjoyed it! Most of the people I made it for had never had it before, so it was pretty special :) 

I had somewhat of a difficult time finding ramekins, so I ended up with 3 different sizes. I found really big ones (pictured) at Macys. It is a perfect serving for two people. The other ones I found at Daiso, the Japanese dollar store. I would say the perfect, single serving size ramekin is 7.5cm in diameter. I'm sure it will be easier to find ramekins as soon as the holidays start coming around. Because it literally took me half a day to find some! I even tried the thrift store and had no luck, lol. I also had a hard time finding a torch, but my husband finally found one at a hardware store. It was a little pricy for a dessert, but SO WORTH IT. I tried the broiler and it just didn't give you the correct texture. Plus, torching the top is so fun :)

This recipe is very straightforward and easy. However, I'll give you guys a few tips. As soon as the whipping cream comes to a boil, take it off the heat, add the vanilla extract and cover. Speaking of vanilla extract, if you want to be ultra fancy, you can use a vanilla bean, just add it (the scraped out seeds and pod) right in the beginning and allow it to come to a boil along with the cream. Vanilla extract is just much more affordable and it gives you a wonderful flavor. (DO NOT USE THAT IMITATION STUFF THOUGH, PLEASE). Next, after the cream has cooled, pour a tiny bit of cream at a time into the egg mixture and whisk very quickly. You don't want to scramble the egg. If you think you may have scrambled it, don't worry. Just use a fine mesh strainer. The three times I made it, I never scrambled the egg. I did strain it just to be sure though. The recipe is a good one, as long as you're careful. The third tip is to put the ramekins into the roasting pan and into the oven and then add the hot water. I have been guilty (stupid?) of adding the water first and then trying to carefully put it into the oven. That's much more difficult. So do it the easy way. 

Anywho, sorry for that essay! I wasn't planning to write a lot, I promise. And I also apologize for the horrific, single photo. I took it a few weeks ago and wasn't able to break it to show the inside (this one in particular was for my dad's birthday). I also had no garnishes and the lighting was terrible. (I'm still working on that). Next time I make this dessert (which probably won't be for a few months), I'll make sure to take more and better pictures! But in the meantime, you guys should just trust my word and make it anyway! Enjoy!

Crème Brulee 
Ingredients:
  • 1 quart heavy cream
  • 1 ½ Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 6 large egg yolks
  • 2 quarts hot water
  • Superfine sugar, for the top

Directions:
  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  • Place the cream into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add vanilla, and cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
  • Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Sprinkle sugar evenly on top of crème brulee. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

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