Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Creme Brulee {Recipe}

Creme Brulee is my favorite "fancy" dessert. Even though, really, there's not much too fancy about it, and it's not all that hard to make!

Now that I know how to make it -- I'm not kidding, it's so easy! -- I will have something to do with all of those leftover egg yolks when I made my favorite icings!

What You Need:
2 cups half & half
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar (plus more for topping)

Yield: Six medium-sized custards


Preheat the oven to 325-degrees (F). And start about 5-6 cups of water to boil. (This will be added to the pan in the oven while cooking, so you can use a tea kettle or even the microwave to boil the water.)

In a small saucepan, combine the half & half and the vanilla. Heat over medium-low until small bubbles for just around the outside edge. You do not want this to get to a rolling boil or it could curdle.

In a medium-sized, heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar.

Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture whisking constantly. If you pour it in too quickly, the eggs will curdle, so pour slowly.
I wish I could have taken a photo while doing this, but I needed both hands. So this is what it looks like when you're done adding the milk.

Pour the custard into small custard cups. Arrange in a roasting pan (or a 9x13 cake pan is what I use). Place the pan into the oven, then add boiling water around the outside of the ramekins about halfway up the sides. (If you add the water first, it gets pretty heavy.)

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the custard is set.
Remove from the oven, and let chill in the refrigerator at least three hours or overnight.

After cooling, sprinkle about 1 Tbsp. sugar (regular granulated or 'tubinado' sugar are both fine) over the top of the custard.

Using a kitchen torch, carmelize the sugar. Allow it to set for about a minute before you...

... DIG IN!
Heaven!

(ps- I'm going to try carmelizing the sugar under the broiler next time I make these. I will report back if that works as well, because I don't have a kitchen torch at home... and I pretty much NEED to eat these weekly!)

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