One of my all-time favorite desserts. Surprisingly fast to make, packed with flavor… what’s not to like? The calories? Get out of here.
Crème brûlée really is the best of both worlds — a silky, rich vanilla custard underneath and that satisfying crackle of torched sugar on top. A few simple ingredients, minimal hands-on time, and yet it always feels fancy enough for a dinner party. That contrast between cold, creamy custard and warm, brittle caramel is what keeps me coming back to this one.
(Experiment 100) Creme Brulee
Ingredients
- 1 vanilla beans you will need an extra one to make vanilla sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- 500 ml cream the one for whipping
- 75 g vanilla sugar or just plain sugar
Instructions
- (optional)To make magic vanilla sugar, simply use the inside of an empty vanilla bean, and put it in a container with 1-2 cup of cane sugar, seal and within a few days, you will have your own magic sugar. Note that this sugar will last “forever”.
- In a pot dump the inside of a vanilla bean, I also dump the bean in the mix to add even more flavor. Add to the party 75g of your magic sugar or plain sugar, then add the cream. Turn heat to low-medium, stir, and keep an eye on the pot after 2 minutes. You need to scald the cream. What the heck is scalding? It’s basically the point before it boils. To know if it’s there, simply tilt the pot and look at the bottom of the pot, if you see bubbles forming, you are there. It usually takes about 4-5 minutes. Do not boil. Remove from heat and let it cool 5 minutes before using it.
- Next, you want to whisk your 6 eggs yolks and then slowly pour your cooled cream mixture in. Do not add too much at the beginning else you will make scrambled eggs. At this point you need to strain the mixture to remove impurity ( IE vanilla beans or chunk of eggs), I run this through a chinois. It has a super fine mesh so it gives a really smooth texture.
- In a baking pan, put your ramekins and pour the mixture in, don’t overfill. Now you need to make a bain-marie to cook them. Pour some hot water in the pan so that it covers a little over 2/3 of the ramekin. Be careful not to put water in the ramekins.
- Cook at 300F for 25mins on the lower rack, remove from the oven, and carefully remove each ramekin from the baking tray. Watch out they are hot and you have hot water in there too. I use a thin spatula that I carefully push under the ramekin and transfer on a dishcloth.
- Let them cool uncovered for an hour, cover loosely with the plastic film, and put in the refrigerator for at least 4 , ideally you want 8-12 hours in the fridge.
- When ready to serve, take them out of the fridge, put some white sugar on top of them; about 1tsp per ramekin. Using a torch caramelize the sugar, be careful because when it starts to melt it will turn from caramel to burn.
Because oven, ramekin depth etc all factor in, I recommend to do a “jiggle” test to check if its done. The edges should be set while the center still wobbles like soft jello without rippling or sloshing. If its not there , bake another 5mins and redo the test. If you have a instant read thermometer, you want to read 170F
If you cover them tightly with plastic film in the fridge, it will protect from absorbing odor but , it risk trapping humidity and prevent forming a cracking layer in the next step .
Notes
These will be safe to eat staying in the fridge for 3-4 days but expect texture to start degrading after 48 hours.