Thursday, January 23, 2014

Crack Me Some Crème Brûlée.

Creme Brûlée is by far the easiest French recipe I have ever came across. Its a no fuss dessert that could easily be put together in less than 30 minutes with only 4 ingredients. Furthermore, the best thing about this delicacy is cracking the set sugar on top. With all this positivity going on about the dessert, why are we not seeing this immaculate food in all the pastry shops? Well, fret no longer because you can create this dish and serve it for your friend or yourself to enjoy. I suggest the latter. 


INGREDIENTS :

3      large       egg yolks
1/4   cup        white sugar
2      cup        heavy cream
2      inches    vanilla bean

Thats it? Yes, thats it.


Preheat the oven to 325'.

Slice the VANILLA BEAN in half and scrape the seeds out.

In a deep saucepan, heat the HEAVY CREAM to simmer with the vanilla bean seeds for 15 mins.

In a large bowl, mix the EGG YOLK and WHITE SUGAR. Keep whisking until the color turns into a pale yellow. 

Add the hot heavy cream to the egg yolk mixture slowly. One ladle at a time while whisking  to avoid cooking and scrambling the eggs. 



Strain the warm egg-cream mixture into a ramekins of your choice. I used a soufflé ramekins but a shallow creme brûlée ramekin would be ideal.

Remove any foamy mixture on top of the mixture. 

Arrange the ramekins into an empty 9 x 13 roasting pan into the oven and place it into the oven.

Pour enough hot water into the pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake for about 40 mins, but keep checking it. 

Do not overcook the creme brûlée. To check for doneness, tap the side of the ramekin.

If the side is firm but the middle still jiggle then the creme brûlée is done. 
**If the middle is firm then you've over cooked the creme brûlée.**


Crack Away!
Remove the ramekins and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

Remove the creme brûlée from the refrigerator and wait for 15 minutes before browning.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of white sugar. Using a torch, melt the sugar until browned. 
** you can add and melt more sugar for a thicker shell **

Do not burn the sugar or it will give a bitter aftertaste. Unless you're into that kind of taste, then go on ahead. 

Let the sugar set for 5 minutes before serving.