Crème Brulee is one of those deserts that everyone loves. I know this as I have been asked countless times for this to either be on a dessert menu, or for me to pass along the recipe. There is some sort of connection between this dessert and all of us that love food. Maybe it’s the richness of the custard along with the crunchy and somewhat bitter taste of the caramelized sugar top, or perhaps its the use of fresh vanilla beans, with their seeds coating the bottom of the ramekin.

I have seen this dessert butchered in so many ways I am unable to keep count. Green tea, black sesame, coconut, ginger, white chocolate…need I go on. I wonder why some have to mess with perfection, as this dish, it all its glory is perfect the way it is, and way meant to be served. Adding other flavoring attributes is somewhat risky, not all ingredients go with this dish’s base and most just cover up the subtleties that make Crème Brulee the great dessert it truly is.

Please link to this site if you own a blog and have enjoyed this recipe...cheers!

Creme Brulee

Printable version of this Creme Brulee recipe (word doc)

Yield: 6 Servings : Note - I made this recipe on 31 Jan and used "large" organic eggs. They were a bit smaller than other eggs and made 4 perfect 6 oz ramekins. Please take this into consideration and plan accordingly...Rob

 Ingredients:

6 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

6 teaspoons granulated sugar

6 - 6 ounce ramekins

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325°F.

1.     Whisk yolks and 6 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl to blend. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean.

2.     Gradually whisk the cream into the sugar.   Divide mixture among 6 - 3/4 cup custard cups or ramekins. Arrange dishes in 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

3.     Pour enough hot water into pan to come halfway up sides of dishes.

4.     Bake custards approximately 35-40 minutes until the custard is set.   

5.     Remove the pan from the oven and remove custard cups from the water.  Allow custards to cool at room temp before placing in the refrigerator.

6.     Chill overnight.

To serve

Sprinkle sugar over the top of the Crème Brulee and caramelize the sugar in one of the following ways;

1.     use a crème brulee iron (see header image above)

2.     use a gas torch

3.     use your ovens broiler

Click this link for Creme Brulee ramekins.

Home | About | Contact | CV (resume) | Photography | Recipes | Links

All content, photographs and recipes © 1986-2006 aGreatChef.com, all rights reserved