Creme Brulee

 I was at a cookware store the other day and couldn't resist buying 4 creme brulee dishes. I've never made creme brulee before, but I've really enjoyed it at restaurants, so I knew I had to make it at some point. I was looking for a kitchen torch yesterday too, but the store didn't have it. I've read that you can use the broiler, however, so I decided to use this method instead.

The recipe I decided to reference is on allrecipes. I didn't follow the steps exactly, as a professional pastry chef had reviewed the recipe and recommended a variation in the steps. She did, however, mention that the amounts of the recipe was fine.

My sister and I decided to make this recipe together. We started by separating the egg yolks from the whites. This recipe only uses the yolks, so we set the whites in the fridge to use for something else. Then the egg yolks get whipped up with some sugar and vanilla extract. Once this step is done, the egg mixture should be creamy and thick.

While we were get the egg mixture ready, I also began to heat the whipping cream on the stove until near a boil. Then we slowly added it to the egg mixture and whisked it really quick. I also had the oven preheating to 375 at the same time as we were heating the cream, and I had added hot water to the pan that the creme brulee dishes were going to sit in in the oven.

Once the cream was mixed into the egg mixture, we ladled the mixture evenly into the 4 dishes. The recipe allows for 5 servings, but we found all the custard fit into our dishes.

The custard went into the oven for approximately 20 minutes. Once it was ready, it was just slightly jiggly in the middle. I believe the pastry chef who critiqued the recipe said the custard should have a gelatin-like jiggle.

Jennifer and I took the custard out of the oven and let it cool in its water bath for a bit. To be honest, I think the custard browned more than it should have. I'm not even sure if it's supposed to get brown at this point. It reminded me a bit of overcooked egg in appearance. Once the custard had cooled a bit, we covered it and refrigerated it.

The evening after we made the custard, we did the final step of caramelizing the sugar on top. We mixed 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of white sugar together and sifted them over the top of each custard. Then we dumped off the excess sugar (basically whatever sugar doesn't stick). I think this is supposed to prevent getting a crust that's too thick.

Cooking them under the broiler was quite easy, but we had to keep an eye on them. Once the sugar appeared to be melted and a little bit browned, we finally took them out of the oven. It took a bit longer than the recipe specified. Also, because the broiler made the custard hot, we decided to let the brulees sit for a few minutes to cool; this helped the sugar crust up a bit better.

Overall, Jennifer and I were really pleased with the results, and our mom thought the creme brulee was delicious as well! The only criticism I can give is that the broiler didn't make the sugar as hard as a creme brulee is meant to be. Luckily, we got that lovely flavour of the burnt sugar and the creaminess of the custard, so I think the recipe is a real winner. I must try using a torch at some point, however, to see if we achieve more accurate results.