There's nothing I love more than dinner at a nice restaurant. I always look forward to the dessert menu, because I love to make desserts and I'm always hoping to be inspired by something new and creative. A lot of times though, regardless of how innovative the menu is, the dessert menu winds up being lackluster. Cheesecake, Key Lime Pie, Bread Pudding, Chocolate Cake with Ice Cream. Not that there is anything at all wrong with those, but I've had and made most of them. If I'm going to splurge on dessert, then I want something I can't make myself. The exception to this of course is Creme Brulee. I will always order Creme Brulee if I see it on a dessert menu! It's about the greatest dessert on earth. And surprisingly simple. 6 ingredients total for the entire dessert. And you thought you had to wait until your next trip to a fine restaurant? No way. It's a little like my Chocolate Souffle recipe. It only sounds fancy when in fact this is not a difficult recipe to make. Creme Brulee is French for "burnt creme." It's a custard base with a caramelized layer of sugar on top. The best part about this dessert besides eating it, is it can be prepared well in advance. In fact in requires chilling for several hours. That means you can make these the day before you want to serve them and all you have to do is caramelize the sugar before taking them to the table. I posted this recipe many years ago, but made this recently and wanted to share it again. We had a big Arctic freeze here in Oklahoma, including a snow storm on Valentine's Day so we opted to stay home for dinner. We went old school with Steaks, Grilled Shrimp, Twice Baked Potatoes and my favorite, elegant but easy never fail dessert. What are you waiting for? Let's get started. If you hurry you can have one for breakfast.
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Whether at a fine restaurant or a meal at home this remains one of our family's favorite desserts. |
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| Combine cream and salt in a saucepan. |
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| In a mixing bowl combine egg yolks and sugar. |
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| Bring cream to a simmer but do not boil. When the little bubbles start to form around the edges of the pan, it is just about to the simmering point. |
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| Remove cream from heat and gradually add egg yolk mixture. |
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| Stir gently until sugar is dissolved. |
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| Stir in vanilla. |
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| Place ramekins on a jelly roll pan and place in oven. Pour hot water around the ramekins. (The water bath, or bain marie method is used to keep a crust from forming on the outside of the custard before the interior is fully cooked.) |
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| Cover loosely with foil and bake 1 hour and 15 minutes. |
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| Look how perfect they came out. See? I told you it was easy! Chill for several hours.  with sugar. You can use brown sugar, raw sugar, but you'll get the best caramelization with granulated or superfine sugar. Of course I didn't follow my own advice and used Sugar in the Raw. |
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| Caramelize the sugar with a culinary torch (You can also use your oven's broiler, as described below) |
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| Last year for Father's Day, Mr. Devilish Dish got a fancy new torch for searing things on the grill. I wasn't sure if he was caramelizing sugar or welding. |
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| As you can see our sugar layer wasn't perfect. Use the right sugar for the job for best results. |
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| The layer of sugar might not have been perfect but the custard sure was. Look how decadent and smooth that is. |
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| This is truly one of the most simple, yet elegant desserts you can make. I've been making this for years, and we still enjoy it, even for special occasions like Valentine's Day at home. |
CREME BRULEE
3 cups heavy cream
dash of salt (I use Kosher)
6 egg yolks
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla bean paste
6 tablespoons granulated or superfine sugar
In a medium saucepan combine cream and salt. Cook over medium heat until cream begins to simmer but does not boil. In a mixing bowl combine egg yolks with the 2/3 cup of sugar, stirring well until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is a pale yellow. Remove the cream from the heat and gradually add the egg mixture whisking entire time to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Make sure sugar is fully dissolved and stir in the vanilla. Fill 6 heatproof custard cups or ramekins (6-8 ounces each) with the mixture and place in a large roasting pan or sheet pan. Pour hot water into the roasting pan until the water rises about halfway up the outsides of the ramekins. Cover pan loosely with foil Bake in a 300 degree F oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove ramekins from oven. Allow to cool and then chill in the refrigerator several hours or overnight. When ready to serve sprinkle 1 tablespoon of granulated or superfine sugar over the top of each custard. You can brown the sugar under a very hot broiler for a couple of minutes, or for a more even caramelization use a culinary torch. Serve immediately. These are delicious as they are or can be garnished with fresh berries.
Yields: 6 custards
*This recipe was originally published on March 6, 2011 I just felt like adding a few updates and sharing it again.
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