Creme Brulee

My first attempt at creme brulee… scary but I think it turned out well!  I couldn’t resist after seeing Pioneer Woman’s post and her pictures make it less intimidating

Boiling cream & vanilla.  Separated egg yolks and kept egg whites for a future creation .  An easy way to separate the egg – tap the egg on the side of a bowl to make a crack (as usual).  Hold the egg vertically and carefully crack off the top, letting the egg whites drop into a bowl.  Pour the egg yolk into your hand and let the rest of the egg whites drip into the bowl.  Slide the egg yolk into another bowl.

Mix mix mix, until the colour of the batter turns pale and thick.  Took maybe 5 mins.

Make sure you scoop out the foam after mixing (last step).  I didn’t do enough of that and when they came out there was an brown airy layer on top (below). I just used a spoon to scoop that off, making sure I don’t touch the custard underneath.  Doesn’t look nearly as good if it came perfect out of the oven though!

Torching was a bit of a struggle.  I used a friend’s “lighter” but it took quite a while to burn the sugar.  I think it’s probably because I used regular (granulated) sugar instead of superfine sugar.  It did warm up the custard a tad; it would have tasted better right-out-of-the-fridge cold but it will do

To my surprise it actually tasted very, very good!  I attended a wedding a week ago and the taste of this creme brulee was very close to the ones I ate there.  MmMmMmm

PS.  I halved the recipe because I didn’t have enough ramekins/knew I couldn’t eat that much

Creme Brulee

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

• 4 cups Heavy Cream
• 1 whole Vanilla Bean OR 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract OR 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Paste
• 10 whole Egg Yolks
• ¾ cups Sugar
• 6 Tablespoons Superfine (Baker’s) Sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Pour the cream into the saucepan. Add vanilla and simmer over medium-low heat.

Whip egg yolks with the sugar until pale yellow and thick.

Strain cream using a fine mesh strainer.

Whip yolks while you very slowly drizzle in 1 cup of warm cream. Go slowly so as not to cook the eggs! Once the first cup is added, you can add the rest of the cream slowly.

Place ramekins onto a rimmed baking sheet. Pour custard mixture into ramekins. Pour water in bottom of baking sheet until it comes halfway up the ramekins. Bake for 30 minutes, or until just set. Do not allow to get brown.

Cool ramekins on countertop, then chill for at least 2-3 hours, covered in plastic wrap.

To serve, sprinkle 1 tablespoon over each ramekin of custard. Use a kitchen torch to quickly (but carefully) brown the sugar. There should be a thin, crisp surface of burned sugar on the top.