Finally I found some time to cook my Crème Brulée that I promised weeks ago. I don’t know if I should be happy to have chance to cook this… I have been planning to have this 3 days ski vacation so long, but unfortunately it ended up with only 1 day. After a all day long skiing now I am at home for 2 more days instead of going to work which is still annoying since I would prefer to be skiing.
After having checked lots of recipes, I mixed 2 of them and had a very delicious result. I thought since I am going to prepare a French dessert, I should check out French recipes as well. Some of the recipes seem quite heavy considering their ingredients. That’s why I picked the one which seems lighter. (By the way while I am checking out the recipes, I checked out the one for Cream Catalan that I experienced in Barcelona. The recipes of these two desserts look similar with some differences. Later on, it is for sure that I am going to try Cream Catalan as well, the one I had in Barcelona was perfect.)
Being my first Crème Brulée, I cannot compare with my previous ones but with the ones I tried earlier. After comparing I would say that: “Pas mal du tout”. This is the way French people express themselves when they like something. The translation is “Not bad at all”. But please note that when they say these 4 words that means they really liked it J
When I decided to cook Crème Brulée, I started to look for nice coking cups. The most typical cups for his dessert is the one with handles both sides. There was only one left at the store that I bought it, that’s why I, actually my brother, bought the other ones from Ikea, but they don’t have handles and there not oval but circular. So in the photos you will see different style of cups. They are both good looking.!
Ingredients:
300 ml Milk
2 packets of cream (1 packet is 200 ml)
4 eggs
1 glass of Brown sugar white sugar can also be used)
1 packet of vanilla
Cooking torch (if you don’t have it you can use grill of your oven)
Preparation:
1)First we boil the milk and cream. As soon as you see the bubbles , you can take your casserole away from the heat and let it cool.
2)During the cooling process of your milk & cream mixture you can mix sugar, eggs and vanilla in a separate cup. In some recipes, they say that mix them until they get white whereas in some others not make the mixture white. I preferred to make it white. But of course because of using Brown sugar it is not really white but I mixed them longtime.
3)When your milk & cream has been cooled, you add your egg and sugar mixture slowly. Be sure that the milk is not hot which can cook your eggs before it should be. This may give egg smell to your dessert which is something that we don’t want to have.
HINT: After having above mixture, we need to proceed with cooking in the oven, however to have a pre-cooking on the heat for 5 minutes can help you to have a better taste. By doing this you will shorten the cooking time in the oven.
You can pour your creme brulée to your cups. Cups should be places on a oven tray where you put some water in it. You will cook the dessert in a pre-heated oven at 150 degrees (C) 30 minutes would be fine with pre-cooking, if not at least 45 minutes. If it happens that your creme brulées have bubbles on them turn down the temperature of the oven.
When they are out, let them to be cooled for a while, after they are cool, put them in a fridge for an hour. Even it is suggested to cook your creme brulées one day in advance.
Now we are at the most fun part of it. We will burn it J . Just before you serve the dessert, put a thin layer of Brown sugar and burn it with your cooking torch. It takes approximately 1 minute to by-urn one cup. Take your time while burning and be sure that they are really burnt. After a minute you will see that the burnt sugar will become an icy layer on top your pudding. While you eat it you will crack that thin layer and then enjoy your Crème Brulée, feeling the caramelized taste of the sugar.
NOTE: Burning process should be done right before the service. If you it in advance first you will have icy layer but they it will melt. So better to burn before the service not earlier.
I hope you try and like it. The ones who tasted including me loved it J