“Burnt” custard cream

Crème brûlée is a sweet & creamy dessert with crunchy sugar on top. In Spain it is also known as ¨crema catalana¨, and everyone will affirm that it comes originally from Catalonia. To the Spanish version of creme brûlée you usually add lemon or orange peal as well as cinnamon. Here, I’ll share with you first the traditional French creme brûlée recipe, which I got from the Larousse ¨Pierre Herme¨ dessert book.  I usually make it in small individual ramekins that perfectly serve one person.

Yield: 8 portions

Ingredients:

• 500ml milk
• 500ml cream
• 4 vanilla beans
• 9 egg yolks
• 180g powder sugar
• 100g brown sugar

Step by step

1. Scratch the vanilla mass from the bean. Put it in a saucepan with milk and cream.
2. Place it over medium heat and cook until the milk boils, then turn off the heat and leave aside for 30-40min to infuse. Filter the mixture through a very fine strainer.
3. Pre-heat your oven up to 100ºC.
4. In a bowl, mix sugar with eggs. Add the mixture slowly to the still warm milk-and-cream mix and stir well together. Filter it once again to make sure that it is as smooth as possible.
5. Place 8 ramekins into a large and high-walled roasting tray, then pour enough hot water in the roasting tray to cover halfway up the ramekins’ outsides – this is called a “bain-marie”. Fill the ramekins with the sugar, egg & milk mixture described above.
6. Carefully place the bain-marie into the oven on the centre shelf and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the custards are just set but still a bit wobbly in the middle when you move them.
7. Remove the ramekins from the water and set aside to cool to room temperature. Then place them into the refrigerator to chill for another 3h.
8. Before you serve them, sprinkle one teaspoon of brown sugar evenly over the surface of each crème brûlée, then caramelize them with a cooking blow-torch.

Enjoy!