VANILLA CREME BRULEE

I am very guilty as I made these a good while ago. Shrove Tuesday and Valentines Day has all since passed and I’m only just getting round to sharing my first ever creme brûlée attempt with you. Nonetheless, it doesn’t change how amazing these were and perfect for a cute night in. My only downfall to this recipe is the lack of blow torches in my house hold and my creativity to caramelise the sugar on top was an all time low, however, stuck under the grill still allowed for these tops to crack and the centre was to die for. So here’s how –

WHAT YOU’LL NEED – 

2 cartons double cream, 1 large (284ml) & 1 small (142ml)

100ml full fat milk

1 vanilla pod

5 egg yolks

50g golden caster sugar but extra for topping

THE HOW – 

Pre-heat that fan oven to 160 degrees and sit four 175ml ramekins in a deep roasting tin. (TIP – I collected mine by getting fat on Pots&Co’s puddings which you can find in leading supermarkets, these can be eaten and then resused and are perfect for creme brûlée desserts)

Pour two cartons of cream into a pan along with the milk.

Slice the vanilla pod lengthways with a sharp knife and split into two.Using the knife, scrape out the seeds into the cream and milk mixture and drop in the pod. Set the pan aside.

Put the egg yolks and the sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk for around 1 minute until pale and fluffy.

Place your creamy pan on a medium heat and bring almost to the boil. The trick is not to boil the mixture – as soon as bubbles start to appear, take the pan off the heat.

Pour the hot cream and vanilla mixture into the beaten egg yolks and stir with a wire whisk as you go, scraping all the seeds from the pan. Using a fine sieve set over a large bowl or jug, pour in the mixture encouraging all stray seeds through.

Scoop off all the pale foam from the top of the mixture and discard, giving the final mixture a stir.

Now you want to pour enough hot water into the roasting tin to surround the ramekins. This should come up to around 1.5cm.

Gently fill each ramekin with the hot cream until they are filled right to the top. Lay a baking sheet over the top of the tin so that it completely overs them but do leave a gap to allow for air. Stick in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until the mixture is set.

You can check your brûlées by gently swaying the tin. If ready, the centre of the mixture will wobble a little like jelly. Don’t let them set too firm.

When ready, take from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for only a couple of minutes. Then, stick in the fridge and allow to cool completely. I left mine overnight and then some and the texture wasn’t affected but wouldn’t recommend any longer than that.

When you fancy eating the beauts, wipe round the edge of the dishes, sprinkle 1/2 tsp of caster sugar over each ramekin and spread out with the back of a spoons. Spray with the little water to dampen and either use a blow torch to caramelise or place under the grill. For best effect and firm tops, go for the blow torch but the grill worked just enough to get that crisp. Once the brûlée is firm enough, serve within an hour or two.

YUM.

So good and creamy, the vanilla is insanely powerful and mouth watering and they are perfect for an after dinner treat for the whole family (as long as there’s four of you). I’d now love to give these another go by adding some of the coffee based twists I’ve seen floating around.

lovelove,

R.