Crème Brûlée Recipe
Crème brûlée can be made at home with just five simple ingredients and a few kitchen tools. The legendary dessert is a showstopper at any dinner party.
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 whole vanilla bean (split)
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 pinch table salt
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (enough to cover the top of each custard)
- fresh fruit (optional garnish)
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat a conventional oven to 325°F/160C° or to 300°F/ 150°C if you're using a convection/fan oven.
- Pour the cream into a small saucepan. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the inside of the pod into the saucepan and then drop the scraped bean into the saucepan.
- Cook the cream and vanilla bean over low heat until the cream begins to simmer. (You'll see a light bubbling on the edge.) If you're using a digital kitchen thermometer, stop cooking the cream when it reaches 175-180°F/ 80°C.
- While the cream mixture is cooking, mix the egg yolks, sugar and salt in a bowl until incorporated.
- Remove the cream mixture from the heat when it starts to simmer and remove the vanilla bean pod. Pour the cream mixture in a steady stream into the bowl using a fine mesh strainer. Stir the egg yolk and cream mixture together until combined.
- Using a ladle, pour the combined cream/egg mixture into four ramekins. Place the filled ramekins into a baking dish. Place the baking dish onto the rack of the preheated oven and, while the oven is open, pour boiling water into the baking dish halfway up the ramekins.
- Check the ramekins in 25 minutes. If the mixture is just set, pull the ramekins from the oven. If not, give the ramekins another 5 minutes in the oven. (The goal is for the mixture to jiggle just slightly.)
- Remove the jiggly custard from the oven and place each ramekin on a cooling rack. Once they're cool, refrigerate the ramekins until the custard is cold (approximately 3 to 4 hours). You can leave the ramekins in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Once the custard is cold, it's time to execute the final and most fun step. Spread turbinado sugar evenly on top of each ramekin. Torch the sugar until it starts to bubble and turns brown. You want the color to be dark brown, not black.
- If you're serving the crème brûlée at a party, advise your guests to break the tops with a spoon at your countdown of 3, 2, 1... Enjoy!
Notes
- If you live in a European country, such as Portugal, use M/L (medium/large) eggs.
- You can keep the finished, untorched custard ramekins in the fridge for up to three days.
- If you refrigerate the ramekins for more than four hours, dab each with a paper towel to dry the top of the custard before torching.
- You can garnish the crème brûlée with anything you desire including fresh fruits, nuts or even small candies.
Nutrition
Calories: 538kcalCarbohydrates: 23gProtein: 6gFat: 48gSaturated Fat: 29gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 329mgSodium: 41mgPotassium: 135mgSugar: 22gVitamin A: 2009IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 103mgIron: 1mg
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