Creme Brulee – two ways
It’s a well known fact. Hubby’s favorite dessert is Creme Brulee. Any time we go to a restaurant that has it, he orders it. And he’s not much of a dessert guy (if you can believe that). Since I’ve never made creme brulee, and I have a creme brulee kit, AND it’s hubby’s favorite, I had to put it on my list of things to do before my next birthday. I was especially encouraged when I saw all the TWD-ers make creme brulee a couple months ago.
Since all we had in the house was cream and not milk, I needed a recipe that used all cream. Luckily the recipe that came in my kit only used cream. It is not a very fussy recipe at all and makes the perfect amount for the 4 ramekins that came in the kit.
Of course, creme brulee is NOT lactose intolerant friendly. So I decided to use some evaporated goat’s milk in half of the batch. I randomly came across this evaporated goat’s milk at Target one afternoon. I grabbed 3 cans. It says on the can that can be substituted 1:1 for heavy cream. (In case you didn’t know, most people who are lactose intolerant, like me, can digest goat milk and sheep milk but not cow milk. Luckily all that stuff is easy to find here in Boston.)
So I made a half batch of the creme brulee for each of us. So we each got 2 ramekins. I didn’t go crazy with flavors, although I did steep a 1/2 vanilla bean in my batch. This helped me to identify which ones were safe for me to eat because of the specks (and I LOVE vanilla).
Hubby was very excited to learn I had made creme brulee for him. We went to torch up the sugar and realized that the creme brulee torch did not come with butane. DANGIT! So we tried the broiler method and it worked okay but not great – hence the burnt sugar shown in the picture…
Creme Brulee – from butane torch manufacturer – makes 4x 4oz ramekins
1 cup heavy cream – I used evaporated goat milk for my batch
2 Tbsp plus additional 1/3 cup sugar
2 extra large or jumbo egg yolks – ok, I read the recipe wrong and used whole eggs instead of just the yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract – for my half, I steeped a vanilla bean in the milk
Preheat oven to 300. Prepare some boiling water.
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine cream and 2 Tbs sugar; cook, stirring occasionally until small bubbles appear around the edges of pan, 5-6 minutes. Set aside.
In a bowl, beat egg yolks and vanilla until smooth and light. Pour hot cream mixture into egg yolks, a little at a time, beating continuously until well blended. Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Divide mixture among 4 ramekins.
Arrange ramekins in a baking pan and place on the middle shelf of preheated oven. Fill pan with boiling water to halfway up sides of ramekins. Cover pan loosely with foil (I didn’t do this_. Bake until custard is just set, about 25 minutes. Chill 2-3 hours.
Sprinkle with remaining sugar evenly over top of cooled custards. With the kitchen torch, move the flame continuously over the surface of the ramekins, in a circular motion until sugar melts and becomes golden brown and bubble. Serve immediately or refrigerate for later use.
And the best part of this adventure is that I get to check another thing off my list. Go ME!
1 Order Denver trip plane tix by 12/31
2 Order Europe trip plane tix
3 Start kitchen remodel
4 Make creme brulee
5 Work out 3x/wk for 6 wks (one / two / three / four / five / six)
6 Eat no french fries for a month (and I LOVE french fries)
7 Read my D40 manual, and start applying what I’m learning from it – started
8 Finish the major craft project I started 2 years ago
9 Go to a dr about my wrist
10 Send baked goods to family/friends (one / two / three) – started
11 Read 1 book/month (Jan / Feb / Mar / Apr / May / June) – started
12 Learn to ski
13 Plan/Host a girls night (in or out)
13.5 Send at least 5 birthday cards (one / two / three / four / five) – started
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Happy Birthday!!!!
I had one of those lists when i was 28 too, then i got pregnant. that was the only thing i got to cross off 🙂 Good luck with your list and enjoy your last year of your 20’s!! What a great way to gear up for 30!! And let me just say that 30 is great, i am having a blast!!!
I saw marshmallows on your list. I have a great recipe and they are seriously easy to make and so delicious that you will never want to eat store marshmallows again!
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/12/homemade_chocolate_dipped_mars.html
Happy Birthday! I’m starting to create a similar list… good luck accomplishing all of it!
Happy birthday!
I made a list before I turned 30 also. It is addictive so I keep an ongoing list. Then this year I did Mondo Beyondo and list got crazier!
On the chicken tikka front, Cook’s Illustrated did a recent chicken tikka and it is unbelievable! As close to the restaurant as you can get.
And for cooking classes, my husband and I took a knife skills class together in Chicago and it was THE BEST class I have ever taken. I can easily chop like the pros and it has saved us literally hundreds of hours in the kitchen.
Here’s my list for this year:
http://jonandlaura.blogspot.com/2010/03/36-wishes-for-upcoming-year.html
Happy Birthday!
I’ll be 29 in August, so I think I’m going to steal your idea and make a list of my own (probably with a lot of the same things you mentioned!)
Happy Birthday! Hope you have a fabulous day!
I’ve been reading your blog for a while but I think this is my first time commenting. I just wanted to say that I think it’s awesome that you have a list of goals to hit before you hit 30! I’m turning 30 myself in about a month and a half and I’m wondering where all the time went. Maybe I’ll set a couple goals to fulfill within the next several weeks. Happy birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!
These are really great goals. I haven’t been to the beach since moving to Boston 3 years ago either. Ridiculous. Must change this this summer 🙂
I’m turning 29 this year also (ahhhh!) and I love this idea. Good luck on your goals. And definitely keep us updated with your progress.
I really need to make a list like this too! That’s a lot to accomplish in a year, but I think you can do it!
Happy birthday!! 🙂
Sues
Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone. And thanks for the recipe links! If anyone has any others to share to help me get through my list, I’m all ears!
What a fantastic list!! I need to make one for 35 things to do before I’m 35 hmmm.
Good luck with getting through this list. It looks so fantastic.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Birthday!
This is a great idea – 30s are great – however I only have a couple years left of them.
Love your blog…
Hello and Happy Birthday to a fellow midwest transplant!! I’m from Greenville, OH (it’s 40 miles north and west of Dayton) and now live in Central Massachusetts! Your list is quite similar to mine…especially about keeping in touch and meeting friends babies back home!! It gets tough living so far away. Good luck with the list, and keep baking, I love your recipes!!
I’ve started to make baked donuts. I wish there were more recipes than just plain out there. http://americancupcakeinlondon.blogspot.com/2010/06/mini-cake-donuts.html
I just did a trial at a Bikram Yoga studio. It’s miserable doing it but I lost 1kg after only 4 classes!
I’m organizing a bloggers event but sadly it’s in London 🙁 It’s hard work. I’m trying to get a guest speaker but no one is interested as this is the first one.
Love the list! I just made baked doughnuts… they were beautiful… unfortunately they tasted nothing like doughnuts. Maybe there’s a better recipe out there for you! I’ll look forward to checking back to see if you have any success with those.
Happy Belated Birthday! I check out your blog often and love it! I love the list you got going- I think I need to start one up 🙂
We made bagels the other morning and they are surprisingly easy! If you wanna check them out :
http://sweetebakes.blogspot.com/2010/06/homemade-bagels.html
Happy belated birthday! I had problems accessing your blog for some reason on Thursday, but wanted to pass along well wishes and echo everyone’s thoughts on what a great idea your list is. Alas, similar to Roxan, I’m turning 30 in August but maybe I can set a few reasonable goals to achieve in that short time. 🙂
Great list. I think I’m going to do 1 for my b-day tomorrow. Of things I want to do this year.
First – happy belated birthday! Second – I love the list…what a great idea. I love the name of it too. I may borrow it for my 30 “while I’m in my” 30’s! To be honest though, 30 was a tough birthday, but I’ve never loved life more than I do now!
Hope to see you over at Sunny Bug sometime 🙂