Creme brûlée is one of my favourite, favourite desserts.
If it’s on the menu at a restaurant, it’s pretty much guaranteed that I’ll order it.
I actually had a beautiful spanish version last night, which was a burnt orange creme catalan with gorgeous, crumbled, warm spanish shortbread. Yum!
And one of my go-to local restaurants has a meedjol date creme brûlée on their menu that they serve in a little teacup. So cute!
The beauty of creme brûlée is that it’s a very easy to make, yet it results in such a gorgeous, luscious dessert.
That makes it perfect for when you have guests as you can make it in advance and just brûlée the top when it’s time for dessert.
I recently tweaked a creme brûlée recipe to make a caramel creme brûlée insert for Mr Man’s Caramel and Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch birthday cake. I loved it so much that I decided I just had to make it as a stand-alone dessert so I could eat an entire bowlful (or jarful!) on it’s own.
It’s so delicious, like a salty/sweet, creamy, caramel custard, with shards of shattered toffee on top.
And how cute is creme brûlée served in jars, bowls and teacups?! Much more fun than boring old ramekins.
Oh and my favourite part about creme brûlée? Cracking into that gorgeous, amber, caramel top! X
- 500ml double cream (18 fl oz, 2 cups)
- 1 large vanilla pod
- 130g caster (superfine) sugar (5 oz)
- 5 egg yolks
- 2 eggs
- 1 - 2 tsp sea salt
- Caster (superfine) sugar, extra, for the brûlée
- Preheat the oven to 115 C (250 F).
- Pour the cream into a small saucepan. Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape the seeds into the cream. Throw in the pod, too.
- Bring the cream to a boil, turn off the heat and put the lid on. Allow this to infuse for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, put the sugar in a medium saucepan. Turn the heat on high and stand by and watch the dry caramel closely. Swirl the pan to incorporate the melted and unmelted areas - but do not stir.
- Once the caramel has reached a lovely deep amber colour and all the sugar is melted, turn off the heat and pour in the still warm cream. Whisk continuously, as the mixture will bubble and spit up, to ensure the caramel and cream are combined.
- Crack the eggs and yolks into a large heatproof bowl and whisk well.
- Pour the caramel mixture over the eggs in a slow and steady stream, while continuously whisking the eggs vigorously.
- Whisk in the sea salt, to taste.
- Strain the mixture into a jug.
- Place 6 ramekins/bowls/jars in a roasting tray. Fill each one about three quarters full of custard mixture.
- Pour hot water into the roasting tray around the ramekins until it comes halfway up the sides.
- Place the dish in the oven and bake for 40 minutes to an hour, until they are just set but still slightly wobbly in the center.
- Take the ramekins out of the water bath and allow them to cool to room temperature.
- Just before serving, sprinkle a thin layer of sugar, about one teaspoon, evenly over the top of each custard and caramelise with a blowtorch.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes before cracking into them. Serves 6.
Loosely adapted from Cook in France via my Creme Brûlée recipe.
P.S. Those gorgeous Fido jars were sent to me courtesy of Grand Cucina.