Creme Brulee

Another one of those impressive dessert recipes that you should have in your back pocket for your next dinner party!  This recipe was auctioned off at a church fund-raiser and it went for over one hundred dollars.  Yours for free!

Note:  You will need to acquire a food thermometer if you do not already have one.

Another Note: This is a two day recipe.  Most work is done on day 1 and it is served on day 2.

Recipe yields 10 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pints heavy cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 10 egg yolks
• 1 vanilla bean*
• Turbinado sugar**

* Vanilla Bean - When I first tried this recipe, I had no idea what a vanilla bean was!  You can find it in the spice section in your grocery store.  It is sold in a spice jar....2 beans per jar.  Somewhat expensive: $6-8 per jar.  Worth it though!  This is what it looks like:

** Turbinado Sugar - This will probably come in a box and not a paper bag like most sugar.  It is basically raw sugar that is very coarse and light brown in color.  In fact, it is sometimes called Sugar in the Raw

Directions

Day 1

• Cut the vanilla bean into inch-long pieces
• Combine 1/4 cup (of the 1/2 cup total used in the recipe) sugar in a food processor with the vanilla bean pieces and blend on a high setting for 30-45 seconds to create vanilla sugar

• Add the vanilla sugar to the remaining 1/4 cup sugar along with the pinch of salt
• Combine sugary mixture in a sauce pan with 1 pint (not both!) of heavy cream
• While stirring, heat over medium to medium-high heat until steaming.  Do NOT allow to boil.
• Remove from heat and let stand 15 minutes.  While waiting, preheat oven to 300 degrees
• Also while waiting, crack the eggs and separate the whites from the yolks.  Break up the yolks and beat well.  Set aside
• At the end of the 15 minute cooling period, add the remaining pint of heavy cream and mix well
• Add a small amount of the cream mix to the egg yolks to temper
• Slowly add tempered egg yolks to the cream mixture while stirring well
• Strain cream mixture with a fine sieve
• Divide strained mixture evenly into 10 ramekins (single serving cookware) and bake in a water bath*** until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees, about 30-40 minutes.  Note: If you don't have quite enough ramekins, you can put larger amounts of the mixture into bigger containers.  I've successfully put enough for 4 servings into a very small pyrex dish and had no trouble.  Temperatures need to be monitored because the desired temperature will be reached at different times in different shaped containers.

Make sure you measure the temp carefully and accurately!

• Cool on wire rack for 2 hours and then chill in refrigerator overnight

*** Water Bath - Place ramekins in a deep baking dish.  Fill baking dish with boiling water such that the water comes half way up the outside of the ramekins.

Day 2

• To brulee (carmelize), cover top with turbinado sugar and pour off any remaining loose sugar that does not adhere itself to the custard.  Melt carefully with butane torch, moving the flame quickly back and forth over the sugar.
• If you do not have a butane torch, use the broiler setting of your oven to carmelize the sugar.  Broil for 20-30 seconds within at least an inch of the flame.  WATCH CAREFULLY!
• OPTIONAL: Garnish with fruit or berries