Creme Brûlée

    One of the main things I think of when I think of a fancy meal, is creme brûlée. Something about the perfectly creamy base and the crunchy sugar crust always intimidated me so, even though I got a culinary torch for this specific reason over a year ago, I had never made it! Little did I know that creme brûlée is actually ridiculously easy to make!

    To start, I whisk together my egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and salt. While I'm doing that, I let my heavy cream come to a simmer on the stove. This part is tricky because you don't want the heavy cream to boil or burn so I make sure to stir it every once in a while. When my heavy cream has come to a very light simmer, I take it off the heat and whisk my egg and sugar mixture in bit by bit. As all of my egg mixture is combined into the heavy cream, it'll thicken up to a pudding-like consistency pretty fast.

    At this point, I divide my cream evenly into 4-6 ramekins. I pace these ramekins in a casserole dish or baking sheet with 1-2 inches of boiling water. This will help the creme brûlée bake more evenly. At that point, I pop them into the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-35 minutes. I know these are done baking when the tops of each are set but they still jiggle. Then, I pull them out of the oven but leave them in the water bath until they cool to room temperature. Once they have cooled enough, I put them in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours.

    I wait to pull them out of the fridge until right before I serve therm and sprinkle a generous amount of sugar on the tops of each one. I am very careful to make sure there is enough sugar there to burn and make an even crust without being too thick. Then, I take my culinary torch and burn the sugar on each one. I was a little nervous about damaging the glass of my ramekins or burning the tops of the cream itself but I really had nothing to worry about. After making this for the first time, I cannot stop making it! It is so easy to prep the night before I have people over and always impresses all of my guests.

    What did you think of this recipe? Leave a comment below!