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