30-by-30: Crème Brûlée

Only a few days into the new year and I am already way ahead of accomplishing my 30-by-30 goals in 2012! (If you’ll remember, I didn’t manage to get any of them under my belt in 2011, but 2012? Rock on.)

Boyfriend gifted me a crème brûlée set for our anniversary, complete with kitchen torch (FIRE!) and ramekins. After a few iffy attempts to get the torch going, we were finally able to impress our neighbors with some mad flambéing techniques.

The actual process of making the crème brûlée custard was relatively easy. And even though I almost managed to burn the cream, they turned out absolutely delicious, better than some restaurant-made desserts I have had in the past.

I’m so happy to say I have accomplished one of my culinary 30-by-30 goals, and get to share the recipe with you! Grab your torches!

Cheers!

Crème Brûlée

Recipe adapted from the BonJour Crème Brûlée set
Makes 4 individual servings

1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp fine (regular) sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/3 cup turbinado sugar for topping

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees; while the oven is heating, prepare a pot of boiling water
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine creame and 2 Tbsp sugar
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until small bubbles appears around the edges of the pan, about 5-6 minutes
4. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks and vanilla until smooth and light
5. Pour hot cream mixture into egg yolks, a little at a time, beating continuously until well blended
6. Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl
7. Divide mixture among four 4-oz ramekins
8. Arrange ramekins in a baking pan and fill pan with boiling water to halfway up the sides of ramekins
9. Loosely cover pan with aluminum foil and carefully place on middle shelf of preheated oven (be really extra careful! Lots of hot things going on here)
10. Bake until custard is just set, about 25 minutes (again, be extra careful taking these babies out of the oven)
11. Chill for 2-3 hours
12. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over the top of each dish, tilting and shaking to coat custard completely
13. Using a kitchen torch, move the flame continuously over the surface of the ramekins in a circular motion until the sugar melts and becomes golden brown and bubbly
14. Serve alone or with fresh berries; can be refrigerated for later use