Crème brûlée is French for “burnt cream.” It consists of a rich, traditionally vanilla, custard base with a thin crisp caramelized sugar top, usually served in individual ramekins. My husband and I like to eat it after a nice meal at a upscale restaurant. In fact, I think he ordered it almost every night at dinner on our recent cruise.

When I commented on Tiffany’s (Food Finery) tweet about her making honey crème brûlée that I hadn’t made it before, she offered to come over, bring her torches and teach me how to make it. So Tuesday morning Tiffany and her sweet daughter dropped by and we whipped up her favorite crème brûlée recipe.

Tiffany taught this recipe on Good Things Utah last year and it’s the perfect crème brûlée, smooth and creamy, rich and delicious. She even brought over her favorite vanilla, Sonoma Vanilla Bean Extract Crush. It has such a fabulous flavor we added 2 teaspoons vanilla to the recipe.

I was surprised just how easy this impressive dessert is to make. I think the hardest part was just sprinkling the sugar evenly over the top so it would caramelize evenly. If you haven’t given it a try yet, you should. You should also stop by Food Finery and check out all of Tiffany’s delicious recipes. Thanks Tiffany it’s always fun cooking with you!

Featured Image for post Classic Crème Brûlée and Viking Cooking School

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Ingredients

4 cups heavy cream chilled
⅔ cup granulated sugar
Pinch salt
1 vanilla bean halved lengthwise
10 large egg yolks
¼ cup turbinado sugar

Instructions

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 300 degrees. Cover the bottom of a roasting pan with a dish towel.
Arrange eight 6-ounce ramekins in the pan, making sure they don't touch. Bring a kettle of water to a boil.
Combine 2 cups of the cream, the granulated sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the pan with the pod. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Off the heat, cover and let steep for 15 minutes.
Stir in the remaining 2 cups cream.
Place the yolks in a large bowl and slowly whisk in 1 cup of the cream mixture until smooth. Whisk in the remaining cream mixture until thoroughly combined. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a large measuring cup or pitcher. Pour the custard evenly into the ramekins.
Place the pan in the oven and carefully pour enough boiling water into the pan to reach two-thirds of the way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until the centers of the custards are just barely set and are no longer sloshy, 30 to 35 minutes (25 to 30 minutes for shallow fluted dishes).
Transfer the ramekins to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. Set the ramekins on a baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold, about 4hours.
Just before serving, uncover the ramekins and gently blot the tops dry with a paper towel. Following the photos, sprinkle each ramekin with ½ teaspoons turbinado sugar, then shake the ramekin to spread the sugar in an even layer. Pour out any excess sugar and wipe away from the inside rim of the ramekin. Ignite a torch and caramelize the sugar. Refrigerate the ramekins, uncovered, to rechill the custards, 30 to 45 minutes (but no longer). Serve
TOPPING CRÈME BRÛLÉE be sure to burn the sugar topping on the crème brûlée just before serving. If done too far in advance (more than a half hour or so), the caramelized sugar topping will soften and eventually turn to liquid caramel. For a real show, do it in front of your guests.
After sprinkling the sugar over the surface of the custard, tilt and tap the ramekin to distribute the sugar in a thin, even layer
To caramelize the sugar, sweep the flame from the perimeter of the custard toward the middle, keeping the flame about 2 inches above the ramekin. The sugar is properly caramelized when bubbling and deep golden brown.

Notes

Not surprisingly, a vanilla bean imparts the deepest amount of flavor to custard, but 2 teaspoons of extract, whisked into the yolks in step 3, can be used instead.
For the caramelized sugar crust, we recommend turbinado sugar (sometimes sold as Sugar in the Raw), which is available at most grocery stores and gourmet food shops. Regular granulated sugar will work in a pinch, but use only 1 teaspoon per custard.
If using shallow ramekins, which normally hold 4 to 5 ounces, you may find that you have enough custard base for an extra one or two custards.

Viking Cooking School

I was recently offered the opportunity to attend a cooking class at the Viking Cooking School with a group of local foodies. The class was From Farm to Table and focused on eating seasonally which allows you to enjoy the ripest and freshest foods at their peak. Buying fresh, locally grown foods is good for the local economy, good for family farmers, and good for your family’s health. Farm-fresh foods are actually higher in nutrients – and taste better.

What I liked best about this class was that it was hands on. We were divided into 3 groups of four, given the ingredients for the recipes and shown techniques that make preparing the recipes easier. I definitely need to sign up for one of their knife skills classes.

To me it sort of felt a bit like a competition, at least I wanted to make sure our tart was the best looking tart of the bunch. And when our cobbler didn’t brown up as quickly as the other groups, Cathie helped me sprinkle on some sugar and let me try out her industrial strength torch to brown up the top. Cathie did a fabulous job teaching the class, sharing her knowledge and making everyone feel comfortable in their beautiful kitchen. If only I had all those gorgeous dishes, appliances, and kitchen tools at home.

Visit the Viking Cooking School and check out all of their great upcoming classes. It would be fun to do as a date night with your hubs or a girls night out.

Pictures courtesy of Tiffany Spegar

Classic Crème Brûlée and Viking Cooking School

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Viking Cooking School

About Melissa & Barbara

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Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Viking Cooking School

About Melissa & Barbara

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