Vanilla Crème Brûlée
My favorite dessert! So creamy and delicious, from NYTimes Cooking – https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/9039-vanilla-creme-brulee
Equipment
- 5 ramekins
- 1 kitchen torch
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean split lengthwise, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 5 egg yolks
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- raw or turbinado sugar for topping
Instructions
- Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a saucepan, combine cream, vanilla bean and salt; cook over low heat just until hot. Let sit for a few minutes. (If using vanilla extract, add it now.)
- In a bowl, beat yolks and sugar together until light, 1-2 min max. Stir about a quarter of the vanilla cream into this mixture, then pour sugar-egg mixture into cream and stir. Pour through a fine sieve into five 6-ounce ramekins and place ramekins in a baking dish; fill dish with boiling water halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until centers are barely set. Cool completely. Refrigerate for several hours and up to a couple of days.
- When ready to serve, top each custard with about a teaspoon of raw sugar in a thin layer. Use kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar on top and serve immediately.
Notes
The original recipe does not call for filtering but I find this makes the cream nice and smooth. It also uses a broiler to caramelize the sugar. A kitchen torch works much better, in my opinion. I also prefer raw or turbinado sugar for the topping instead of granulated sugar.
