Creme Brulee

[amber]

I've lost my recipe for creme brule and cannot seem to find a good one online, most of them called for 8 or 9 eggs! anyone have a simple recipe for plain creme brule?

 

[Juliev]

I don't know if this what you're looking for ..but here's one.

5 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups whipping cream
3 oz white chocolate finely chopped
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp sugar

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 300°. Whisk egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar in medium bowl. Bring cream and remaining 1/4 cup sugar to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Reduce heat to low. Gradually add chopped chocolate to cream mixture and whisk until smooth. Gradually whisk hot chocolate mixture into yolk mixture. Mix in vanilla. Ladle custard into four 10-oz. custard cups (or creme brulee cups).

Place cups in large baking pan. Add enough hot water to pan to come halfway up sides of cups. Bake until custards are set in center, about 1 hour. Remove custards from water and cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat broiler. Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon sugar over each custard. Broil until sugar caramelizes, watching carefully, about 2 minutes. Serve hot, or refrigerate up to 1 hour and serve cold.

 

[amber]

Thanks Juliev! Thats what I was looking for.

 

[chefcyn]

Re: creme brule

I've lost my recipe for creme brule and cannot seem to find a good one online, most of them called for 8 or 9 eggs! anyone have a simple recipe for plain creme brule?

Here's a no-fail recipe I've used for years! It can be doubled for bigger crowds and made in either custard cups or ramekins, or individual shallow oval baking dishes.

Creme Brûlée
makes 6 servings

3 c Heavy Cream
5 Egg yolks
1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 Vanilla bean (or 2 tsp Real Vanilla extract)
1/4 c. Brown or white sugar for the carmelized crust

Preheat your oven to 350. Separate 5 Eggs, setting aside the whites for egg-white omelettes or other projects
Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds, combine all with the cream and sugar in a heavy saucepan..
Cook over low heat until it comes to boil. Add a small amount to the eggs to temper. Then whisk the remaining liquid into the eggs slowly.
Fill 4 oz. ramekins set inside a Bain-Marie (a big roasting pan filled with boiling water about 2 thirds of the way up the ramekins, and a dishtowel lining the bottom wouldn't hurt either). Place the bain-marie in an oven for 35-45 minutes or until a sharp knife inserted into the center of the custard comes out clean. Remove the ramekins from the bain-marie and let them cool to room temp. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until ready to serve. Spread one tablespoon of brown or white sugar on top of each custard evenly and use a torch or broiler to caramelize sugar. I prefer white sugar, but some like the extra brown-ness of the brown sugar. It caln also be placed close up under a hot broiler to carmelize--but watch carefully! The idea is to brown the sugar without heating up the custard part.

I use the same custard recipe for Creme Caramel as well--caramelizing 1 1/2 c sugar to a med-dark golden amber and pouring into the bottoms of the ramekins before making the custard mixture. These are best refrigerated for at least 24 hours before eating, as it allows the caramel to soften and make more "sauce" when you invert them.

 

[amber]

my creme brule is cooling, it looks great, thanks Juliev. Chefcyn, I did use ramekins, and vanilla bean because I had one bean left, but I think pure vanilla extract would work great too. Not sure if we will eat it tonight or not, but I'll pop it in the fridge and use it tomorrow. It's hubby's birthday today, so Im making filet mignon, roasted red new potatoes, and then the creme brule if we're not too full Im drinking some wine, he's drinking a new bottled drink I found today called Zima, which is orange flavored with I guess vodka in it. He doesnt drink much, so he's getting tipsy Hopefully he'll want to eat dinner.

 

[buckytom]

just another idea, a good brulee that i had in a restaurant recently was espresso creme brulee. i guess either powdered espresso, or a shot of the liquid stuff made it in to the mix. it was deelish, with some chocolate biscotti, and a snifter of black sambuca.

 

[amber]

I know Bucky, there are so many versions of creme brule, but my fav is the plain one with the crust carmelized top, soft inside. Sambuca, I havent had that in years!

 

[Scorpion]

I have a small butane soldering torch (pen size) that I use for caramelizing the top. Similar to the ones the Chefs use but cheaper. Takes only seconds but there is more control.

 

[amber]

Scorpian,

I ended up using my broiler for the creme brulle. I had a heat gun for stripping paint but couldnt find it (it worked great the last time I used it), but the broiler did the trick.