when you host dinner parties often preparing all three courses can become exhausting, which is why grace and i have started outsourcing dessert to our invited friends. usually this involves a pint of ice cream, brownies, or some homemade cookies, which are all fantastic choices and are happily received. that is, until the day someone brings a blowtorch over. now, if you bring anything less than a dessert involving power tools, just note that i'm privately comparing it to this beauty:
there is nothing more satisfying that the crunch of burnt sugar as your spoons slides into the creamy yellow pudding beneath, especially when you've been able to caramelize that sugar yourself. the only thing wrong with this dessert is the obvious problem of scale. once you learn how to blowtorch the hell out of something, you never want to stop. similarly, once you finish that one creme brulee allotted you, you feel as if you can eat them forever. so, while it may seem like a good idea to double, or triple, this recipe, i can tell you from personal experience, at one of those fancy buffets in las vegas, that caution should be exercised in all aspects of this dessert. but that doesn't shouldn't stop you from taking pictures of yourself looking maniacal while holding a blowtorch.
creme brulee,
thanks to shannon + jes from: "creme brulee, the bonjour way" by randolph w. mann.
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean (or whatever you want to infuse with - we used 3 cinnamon sticks, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tsp coriander seeds, 12 cardamon pods split, 1" piece ginger peeled and sliced)
6 egg yokes
1/4 cup brulee sugar (or regular granulated sugar)
combine the milk, cream, sugar, salt and vanilla bean (or whatever) in a small sauce pan and stir over medium heat until it reaches the boiling point. set aside to steep until it cools down. pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees, and adjust a rack slightly lower than center. in a separate bowl, whisk the egg yokes briefly, add the cream mixture very slowly into the yokes, whisking well with each addition so the yokes don't cook. once blended, strain the mixture through a fine sieve. pour the custard mix evenly into 8 shallow ramekins. bake them in a water bath for 30 to 40 minutes, until the centers are softly set. if you have deeper ramekins, they might need an extra 5 minutes. remove from the oven and cool in water bath until comfortable to handle. cover the dishes and refrigerate for 2 hours. these can be stored 1 or 2 days before serving. to serve, sprinkle each top with about 1 1/2 tsp of sugar, and torch to caramelize.
note from s+j: if we make this again, we would probably use 1 less yoke, swap the whole milk for heavy cream, and let the infusion steep for another 15 minutes or so.
