The last few weeks have been relatively crazy, and I haven't done a lot of (try any) cooking. The reason was I had some preventative surgery. Having had breast cancer twice my doctors at UCSF and I decided to address the cancer my mom died of by taking a prophylactic measure...so know I've had the full Jolie....why don't I look like her??????
After spending the bulk of the time resting, dealing with pain meds, recovering, and trying not to lift anything heavier than 20 pounds I finally got behind the stove again yesterday. I wanted something sweet and easy to make. I'd been talking to Anne McKibben the owner and founder of CocoaPlanet and it turns out we'd both been thinking of the same thing... why not add Creme Brulee to the dessert menu... both chocolate and vanilla. It sounded delicious and so I decided that for my first foray back into the kitchen I'd start with that, so yesterday I did. I wanted something simple that didn't involve any standing around and that would be tasty with a minimum of sugar, and so this!
Creme Brulee
Here's What You Need:
1 and 1/2 cups of whipping cream
1 pinch of salt
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
extra caster sugar for caramelizing the sugar crust
Here's What To Do:
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.
In a large bowl mix together the egg yolks and powdered sugar.
Blend them together until the mixture is thick and smooth.
Drizzle in a bit of the whipping cream to lighten and make the mixture smoother.
Then add the rest of the whipping cream in and blend it together well.
When that is done pour everything through a strainer into another bowl to filter out any egg or sugar chunks.
After you've done this, add in the vanilla.
Mix everything together well.
Prepare about three cups of boiling water.
When the creme brulee is ready pour in into low creme brulee dishes which you have set into a larger Pyrex baking dish.
Set them in the oven and pour the boiling water into the larger baking dishes so that the creme brulee dishes have water up to the midway point. Try not to spill any water into the creme brulee dishes.
close the oven door and bake for about 30 minutes.
It's done when the creme brulees are set. The center can have a bit of a jiggle but should NOT still be liquidy. If they are, bake them a bit longer.
Take the creme brulee dishes out of the oven, and using a spatula carefully transfer them from the water bath to a cooling rack.
Let them cool for about 30 minutes then put them in the fridge to chill for a bit.
When you are ready to serve them, take them out and sprinkle a couple of tsps of caster sugar over the top.
Tilt the creme brulee dish a bit to make sure the sugar is evenly distributed.
Then using a culinary torch start melting and crisping the sugar.
When you are done..there should be a thin hard glass like crust on top of the brulees.
At this point they should be put back in the fridge again for a few minutes for firm up any of the custard that might have softened too much from the flame. But do NOT leave it in the fridge too long as that will soften the sugar crust... maybe about 5 to 10 minutes is ok.
Then, serve them up.
Breaking through the crisp sugar top is always fun, letting you get at the creamy custard inside.
This recipe makes 4 creme brulees, just double it if you want more of them. This might be a great dessert to serve for Valentines day as it's sweet, but not too heavy.
So yes, I had some creme brulee yesterday which put me well on the path to healing. Coming up next more easy Indian recipes with Winter Vegetables, and maybe another sweet treat for V-Day. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori
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