.creme brulee.

I had mentioned in a couple of entries prior to this one that I will be adding some of the recipes for the other Valentine menus I posted. I will apologize in advance because in order to get all of the meals posted before the holiday, I'll be posting a lot. Maybe even two times a day. I've been bad about typing up the recipes in a printable format. I will spend today getting everything typed and uploaded. :)

I made creme brulee yesterday. It's my dad's most favorite dessert, next to peach pie. It's a custard, which means it's made mostly of eggs and sugar.. and then steamed in the oven. These turned out so delicious and creamy. I topped with fresh strawberries and blueberries. Feel free to garnish with whatever fruit you'd like, or just leave plain. If you choose to make this for your Valentine, I know he/she will love you forever.

This recipe filled 3 ramekins. I thought I could get four out of this recipe, but it didn't happen. If you're feeding more than 3, you might want to adjust the recipe accordingly.


In a bowl, put 8 egg yolks and 1/3 cup sugar.












Add 2 cups heavy whipping cream and 1 tsp vanilla.

Whisk everything together.










This is a crucial step so don't skip it. You need to strain the mixture into another bowl. This will remove any lumps or egg particles because we want a smooth custard. Not a lumpy one.









Ladle the mixture into your ramekins. If you don't have ramekins, I really suggest you buy some. If you can't find ramekins, use little coffee mugs. They'll work just fine and that could be really cute!









Place the ramekins in a baking dish and fill the dish up with water. The water needs to come halfway up the side of the ramekin.

Place in a 300* preheated oven for an hour. The centers will still be slightly loose but the edges should be set.

After that hour, turn your oven off, but leave the pan in there. We need to slowly cool these down.



Once they're cool, pull from the oven and let sit on the counter until they come to room temp. Remove from the baking dish and cover each ramekin with saran wrap. Put in the fridge and allow to chill at least 2 hours. You can keep them in the fridge up to 2 days, so you can make these babies up days ahead of time!






For the finishing touch, you'll need a cooking torch. Don't have one? Just turn on your broiler to high. That should work okay.










You're also going to need superfine or caster sugar. You could use regular granulated, but it will take longer for it to burn/caramelize.










This final step is done after the brulee is completely chilled and set and right before you want to serve.

Sprinkle the tops of the brulee with some of that superfine sugar.








Using the blow torch, go in circular motions until the top is golden brown. The sugar will create a thin sheet of hardened, caramelized sugar. The signature for creme brulee.

Again, if you don't have a torch, put these under a hot broiler until the sugar browns. Pull from the oven immediately. Make sure you keep an eye on them. We don't want to melt the custard!

Place the ramekin on a dessert plate and garnish with fruit and a sprig of mint.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_129fhdk2jgk