Crème Brûlée
Crème brûlée is a recipe that seems so much more complicated than it really is. It’s a mesmerizing combination of smooth, silky custard topped with burnt sugar that shatters when you dig your spoon into it. It seems as if a little magic and a lot of painstaking work would be required to create such a dish. Luckily, you don’t need a magic wand or hours of time in the kitchen to create a batch of these delicious custards.
Really, crème brûlée is simply a chilled custard topped with sugar. Sugar topped custard seems like a delicious and simple dish. It’s certainly one that I would want to eat. By the time you give that simple custard a French name with multiple accent marks, it begins to seem much more complicated.
Let’s start with the fancy name: crème brûlée. You’ll find it spelled with and without the traditional French accent marks depending on where you see it mentioned. As far as its origin, France, England, and Spain have all tried to claim that they should be thanked for inventing it.
Food historians disagree on the precise birthplace for crème brûlée. Custards were quite popular during the Middle Ages all across Europe. The first mention of a custard resembling crème brûlée appeared around 1690. From there, it becomes almost anyone’s guess as to where the first one was actually made.
In the early days of this dessert, sugar was not caramelized on the top surface. Instead, a disc of prepared caramel was placed on top before serving. A recipe named crème brûlée (translated in French to “burnt cream”) finally appeared in the 19th century and called for serving the custard chilled with a layer of caramelized sugar on top.
No matter where this dessert came from or how you choose to spell it, the silky custard and crispy burnt sugar are a delectable combination. I love to make these pretty custards during the summer when we have plenty of fresh eggs from our chickens and ducks along with fresh strawberries and raspberries from our berry patch. It makes a delicious and cool homegrown treat at the end of a hot summer’s day.
Traditionally, crème brûlée is baked in individual portions held in shallow dishes or ramekins. I prefer to bake mine in jelly sized Mason jars. I have dozens of them in the pantry and I find that they are easier to transport to the oven without spilling. I also love the farmhouse feel of dessert served straight from a Mason jar, so I always use them when making this recipe.
You can certainly use whatever sort of baking vessel you have on hand. Anything that is oven safe and holds around 8 ounces will do. If you choose to use Mason jars, I like to opt for jars that are straight-sided. They’re much easier to handle, fill, and caramelize the sugar on top.
When it comes to caramelizing the sugar on top, I like to use a small blowtorch. By small, I don’t mean one of the tiny versions you’ll find in a kitchen supply store. I mean a small torch from the hardware store. I keep a small hardware store blowtorch in the pantry. Julia Child once agreed with a guest on her PBS show “Baking with Julia” that every woman should own a blowtorch. I couldn’t agree more.
Years ago, I had a kitchen version of a blowtorch. It was very small and I found that it wasn’t up to the task at hand. It didn’t have enough power to melt the sugar quickly. That meant the process of caramelizing a few custards took too long and used a lot of the butane that powered the torch. I often had to refill the torch before finishing 4 or 6 custards.
Eventually, that tiny torch stopped working altogether. Unfortunately, I discovered this fact as I was preparing to caramelize the sugar on top of a batch of homemade crème brûlée. I knew that I could place the custards under the oven broiler for a few minutes to do the job, but I don’t find that the broiler does a very even job and I prefer for the custard to remain cold underneath the sugar. So, I decided to give the blowtorch we have on hand for plumbing repairs a try. I set it up, lit the torch and was amazed at how quickly and evenly I could melt the sugar. Since then, the torch is off limits for DIY projects. It’s a permanent resident in the pantry.
No matter how you choose to finish your homemade crème brûlée, you’ll be amazed at how simple they are to make and how delicious they taste. Of course, I’d recommend using this recipe as a reason to add a blowtorch to your kitchen equipment. If they were good enough for Julia’s kitchen, then they’re certainly welcome in mine.
Crème Brûlée
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cups whole milk
- ½ vanilla bean pod split lengthwise (optional)
- 1 large egg
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon Grand Marnier
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- raw turbinado sugar
Instructions
Prepare the Baking Jars and Bain Marie:
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Prepare the baking pan and jars. I like to use my square 9x9 inch cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with a thin tea towel or kitchen towel, taking care to ensure that it will not extend outside of the pan and will remain submerged under the warm water while baking. Place 6-8 jelly sized (8 ounce) canning jars in a baking pan. The towel will help to prevent the jars from moving when the pan is transferred to and from the oven.
- Bring a medium saucepan or teakettle full of water to a rolling simmer. Reduce the heat and hold at a bare simmer while you are preparing the custard mixture. The warm water will be used to create a Bain Marie in the pan holding the jelly jars. A Bain Marie is a warm water bath used to bake delicate custards. The warm water helps to deliver even heat to the custard and bake it more evenly while preventing it from drying out as it bakes.
Prepare the Custard:
- Place the cream and milk in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the pot (if using). Warm the liquid over medium heat until steaming. The cream and milk should be quite warm but far from simmering. Remove the pot from the heat.
- While the cream is heating, combine the whole egg, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk until completely smooth. Add the Grand Marnier and vanilla extract.
- Temper the eggs by gradually adding about half of the hot cream to the egg mixture, whisking constantly to combine and temper the eggs. This should warm the eggs up without scrambling them. Add the remaining hot cream and whisk to fully combine. If you notice any solid egg, you can strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer or a piece of cheesecloth before proceeding.
- Pour the mixture into the jelly jars, dividing it equally between them. Wipe the rims of the jars to remove any custard that may have clung to the rim of the jars. Slowly pour the warm water into the pan until it comes halfway up the sides of the jars or halfway up the height of the sides of the pan whichever is lower. In my case, the sides of my pan are much shorter than the jelly jars, so I fill the pan until it is about half full. Take care not to overfill the pan as that will make it very difficult to transfer to the oven without spilling.
- Carefully transfer the pan to the warm oven and bake for 30 - 45 minutes, until the custards are just set when you slowly move the pan. If you've made 6 instead of 8 jars from this recipe, your custards may need a few extra minutes to set as they will be larger. The middle of the custards should jiggle when the pan is moved. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before moving the jars to a wire rack or tea towel to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until completely chilled and firm. The chilled custards can be stored covered in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
- When you are ready to serve, remove the jars from the refrigerator. Sprinkle 1 generous teaspoon of raw turbinado sugar on top of each crème brûlée. Safely light a kitchen torch or small blow torch. Adjust the flame to be small enough to allow you to easily to manage the flame. Carefully use the torch to melt and caramelize the sugar on top of each jar. Keep the torch moving to prevent overheating one particular spot and burning the sugar. When the sugar is evenly melted and caramelized, turn off the source of gas to the torch and set it aside to cool before storing away safely for its next use.
- Allow the sugar a minute or two to cool and harden. Add a few fresh berries to the top of the jars if desired. Serve immediately and enjoy!