Crème brûlée

Name: Crème brûlée
Cook time: 243 min
Total time: 243 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Francesa
Ingredients: 6 u Egg Yolks; 110 g Caster Sugar; 1 u vanilla pod; 500 ml Whipping Cream

Medium

Incomplete allergen information: some ingredients have not been reviewed yet. Always check the labels before cooking.

Author: Equipo Cocinoa
Preparation time: 4 hr
Servings: 6

Summary

A vanilla-scented custard of cream and egg yolks, baked in a bain-marie and served chilled under a thin layer of caramelised sugar that cracks when you tap it with a spoon.

Ingredients

6 servings

Add to Bring!

6 u Egg Yolks
110 g Caster Sugar (70 g for the custard and 40 g for the topping)
1 u vanilla pod (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
500 ml Whipping Cream (35% fat (whipping or double cream))

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 150 °C. Split the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape out the seeds and put them in a pan with the pod and the cream. Heat until it starts to steam, without boiling, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse.
15 min
Whisk the yolks with 70 g of the sugar just until the sugar dissolves, without beating in air: you do not want froth.
2 min
Remove the vanilla pod and pour the hot cream onto the yolks in a thin stream, stirring gently. Strain the custard and spoon off any froth from the surface.
3 min
Divide the custard between 6 shallow, wide ramekins and set them in a deep roasting tin. Pour hot water into the tin to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
5 min
Bake in the bain-marie until the edges are set and the centre still wobbles when you shake the ramekin.
35 min
Lift the ramekins out of the water, leave to cool and chill for at least 3 hours, ideally overnight.
3 hr
Just before serving, blot any droplets from the surface, sprinkle with a thin, even layer of the remaining sugar and caramelise with a blowtorch until amber. Let it harden for a minute and serve.
3 min

Notes

Unlike Catalan crema catalana, the base here is cream rather than milk, there is no cornflour, and it sets in the oven rather than on the hob, which makes it denser and silkier. Keep the oven low: if the custard boils, bubbles form and it turns grainy. It is ready when the edges are set and the centre still wobbles like jelly; it will finish setting in the fridge. Caramelise just before serving: a blowtorch is easiest; if you use the oven grill, put the ramekins very close to it and don't take your eyes off them. Without the caramel, the custards keep for three days covered in the fridge.