My absolute favorite dessert of all time is Creme Brulee.  It’s classic and creamy and has that sugar crunch, and the best part of all is getting to play with fire.  Because who wouldn’t want to use a torch every now and then?

I finally got around to making it for the first time ever.  I am not the type to follow a recipe and I’ve never cared much for precise measuring, so I was super nervous!  It turned out amazing though.  Like, really amazing.  I made it in the cutest little white ramekins and we had a little Torch Your Own Creme Brulee Party.  So cute and crazy fun!

Also, the best tip I received was to dust a thin layer of sugar on top before torching.  Definitely essential for getting an even crisp layer on top.

Lastly, I learned that I really need to start working out because my arms were so tired from holding the saucepan up as I poured the vanilla flavored cream into the mixing bowl to make the custard.  I was literally dying during that process.  The Creme Brulee was so worth it though.  Next cooking experiment will be a Bourbon flavored Creme Brulee!

 

How I Made Creme Brulee:

My recipe was based off of Alton Brown’s.  It only takes a few ingredients: heavy cream, a vanilla bean, egg yolks and sugar.  I placed the cream and vanilla bean into a saucepan set over medium/high heat and brought it to a boil.  Then I removed the saucepan from the heat, slapped a lid on that puppy and let it sit for 15 minutes.  I saved the vanilla bean. Next, I whisked 1/2 cup sugar and six egg yolks until it looked like this:

I slowly added cream to the egg/sugar mixture, little by little, stirring continually. Once that was incorporated, I poured the mixture into the ramekins.

Then I placed my cute little ramekins in a pretty red roasting pan and I poured hot water into the pan (the water came halfway up the sides of the ramekins).  Everything went right into the oven to bake at 325 degrees just until the creme brulee set, but was still trembling in the center – about 45 minutes.   At that point, I stuck them in the refrigerator overnight.  The next evening, we had friends over and we got to melt yummy raw sugar on top with the torch!!