Five simple ingredients treated just so, transforms them into a rich, elegant, restaurant-quality dessert you can make at home! Crème brûlée is a classic French dessert that makes a perfect ending to a special dinner. It can be made ahead and refrigerated for your next dinner party. The sugar topping should be torched just before serving. Heavy cream is the usual ingredient for creme brûlée, but full fat half-and-half is a touch lighter (half milk, half cream) and will also yield a silky creme brulee.
1vanilla bean podsplit, or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8teaspoonfine grain sea salt
5large egg yolks
1/2cupgranulated sugarplus more for brulée topping
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Put on a large teakettle of water to boil, or use a large pot. You’ll need about 2-3 cups of boiling water.
Place the half-and-half or cream in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Add the salt and vanilla bean and cook until hot but not boiling. Remove from the heat and allow the vanilla bean to steep as the cream cools slightly, about 5-7 minutes. Pick up the vanilla bean pod with two fingers and lightly squeeze its contents into the cream. Stir. If using vanilla extract instead of the bean pod, heat the cream and then add the extract to the pot off the heat.
Place a fine mesh sieve over a large glass measuring cup with a pour spout (4 cup capacity). Pour the cream through the sieve to catch any large bits of vanilla bean pod that may have cooked off.
In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar together using a whisk. Beat until the mixture lightens slightly, which will take 2-3 minutes of constant whisking.
Stir about 1/3 cup of the warm cream into the egg mixture while whisking constantly to temper the eggs. Then pour this mixture back into the glass measure of remaining cream while whisking constantly. If the mixture is foamy, skim most of the foam off. This is an optional step, but creates an even surface for the caramelized topping.
Place four 8 oz. ramekins into a deep 13x9 baking dish. Pour the crème brulee mixture from the glass measure evenly into the four ramekins. Place the pan on the oven rack and pour the boiling water into the pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the centers are barely set and have a nice jiggle when moved. Remove the pan from the oven and let the custards stay in the water bath at room temperature until the water is cooled to warm, about 30 minutes. When the water is comfortable to the touch, remove the custards and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight. And up to two days ahead of serving.
Just before serving, sprinkle a teaspoon of granulated sugar on top of each chilled custard. Shake each ramekin to even the sugar across the surface of the custard. Use a chef’s torch to evenly caramelize the sugar across the surface. Move the torch constantly so that it melts the sugar granules and doesn’t char the custard below. Alternatively, place the ramekins on a baking sheet and broil them in the oven 2-3 inches from the heat source. Cook until the sugar caramelizes, about 3-5 minutes.
Serve immediately, or within an hour after caramelizing the sugar.
Notes
If using the broiler method, be sure the custard is well chilled, otherwise you’ll end up with melted, soupy crème brulee.The doneness of the caramel is up to you. Some like the caramel topping almost black and bordering on bitter, while I prefer a lightly brown coating that tastes like toasted marshmallow.If you have more than 4 guests to serve, use 6-8 shallow ramekins and cook for 3 minutes.This recipe is adapted from Vanilla Creme Brulee by Mark Bittman from an old New York Times article.
Keyword caramel topping, egg yolks, fine grain sea salt, half and half, heavy cream