Crème brûlée -the best and the simplest dessert

Crème brûlée, crème brûlée the love of my life, the love of my life.
My love for custard is known and actually could say very easy that I can never, but never, refuse anything with custard.

Have you seen that French movie Amélie? Well you should watch it and I’m pretty sure you will develop a love for this beautiful dessert and that magical sound of a crème brûlée top cracking and then sink into that velvety, silky and so smooth custard. Hmmmmm, are you with me?!

This dessert is a different level and what I like about crème brûlée is that it’s so easy to make, it taste so divine and it requires only five ingredients. Isn’t this just amazing? Whoever invented crème brûlée should be blessed forever!

I mean….. look at this beauty, it cannot get any better in terms of a dessert, can it?

A few tips:

• Creme brulee can be made in small ramekins, larger ramekins or in a large ovenproof dish. It really depends how you want it to be and look when serving it. Personally, this dessert should always be made in a fairly large dish. Large enough for me to dip my head into or even go for a dive in. Ha ha – I do love it!

• use the best cream available, the more fat the better this one comes out. Please don’t you even think for a second cutting any corners or any fat percentage. This is a lush, indulgent and totally delicious dessert and it should stay this way.

I remember a few years back we were going to this West End restaurant in London, one of the top chef’s restaurants just for this crème brûlée. It was the most amazing one I have ever had and this reminds me of that, exactly. I believe I have discovered the secret to the best crème brûlée. I totally believe it is the salt.
That makes such a difference giving it a proper definition enhancing the flavours.

Are you put off making this at home because you don’t have the right tool for caramelising the sugar?

Please don’t worry for a second if you don’t have a blowtorch to do this, it can easily be done by using an oven grill. See recipe notes for mre details.

The best part…

I’m so sure you will totally agree with me on this one…

The best part of a crème brûlée to begin with is the cracking of the caramelised sugar on top… mmmmmm.

And then….

Indulging on this creamy deliciousness….how good is this?

It is amazing what a few ingredients can deliver and this dessert is definitely a stunner. Simple and beautiful creamy and so velvety, decadent and LUSH.

Grab a spoon now and lets get on with preparing this cracking dessert. Enjoy!

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5 from 5 votes

Crème brûlée

Beaitifully decadent, the ultimate dessert that noone should miss trying to make at home, creamy and lush.

Course Dessert

Cuisine European Cuisine, Ramona’s Cuisine

Keyword apple desserts, creme, creme brulee, custard, egg recipe, quick dessert

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings 6 portions

Calories 389kcal

Author Ramona Sebastian

Cost £5

Ingredients

• 500 ml double cream
• 1-2 vanilla pod I used 2 smaller ones
• 80 g of sugar plus 40 extra for topping
• 5 eggs yolks * see recipe notes
• 1 pinch salt

Metric – US Imperial

Instructions

• Start by preheating the oven at 150°C or 300°F/.
• Separate the egg yolks fromthe egg whites.
• Into a bowl beat the egg yolks with the sugar together until it’s nice and homogeneous. Set aside.
• Split the vanilla pod(s) with a sharp knife all the way down through the middle and scrape the seeds out with the blade of the knife. Cut the vanilla beans pods into chunks. Add to the cream.
• Place a pan over a medium heat and pour in the cream. Bring this to boiling point but do not allow it to boil.
• Pour the cream over the egg and sugar mixture. Whisk this together until it feels that the sugar has completely dissolved. Discard the vanilla pods at this point if you have used them.
• Pour the crème brûlée mixture into the dish or ladle the mixture into ramekins and put those into a deep baking tray into which you pour hot water until the water would reach halfway up the ramekins (submerging these or the one dish). This is called bain-marie.

  You may also choose to pour the water after placing the tray into the oven – it may be easier.
• Place the baking tray, very very steady and carefully, into the preheated oven. Bake these for about 35- 40 minutes until they are set firm but still with a little jiggle in the middle.
• Allow to cool and if you don’t serve them immediately refrigerate them right up until serving.
• Just before serving sprinkle over the rest of the sugar and use a blowtorch to caramelise the sugar into a thin top layer. * See recipe notes for tips on how to caramelise the sugar if you do not have a blowtorch.

Notes

• Crème brûlée can be made or quite ahead of time, even the day before so if you decide to make if ahead at step 6 you just place in the refrigerator for whenever needed.

• Since this recipe only uses egg yolks, keep the egg whites for later use and there are many things you can make with egg whites such as meringue, marshmallows or an omelette like this with some extra egg whites.

• if you don’t have a blowtorch (most people don’t own one but if you do I’m impressed) the oven grill will work perfectly. Set this on and place all the ramekins or the oven dish under the grill after sprinkling the sugar on top.

Keep an eye on it all but it should not take longer than 2 min. It’s all depends on how high the grill has been set to but also how close this are to the actual grill, I recommend a good 5 to 10 cm distance.
Definitely keeping an eye on this it’s a great idea as the sugar does caramelise pretty quick.

Nutrition

Calories: 389kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Cholesterol: 277mg | Sodium: 45mg | Potassium: 79mg | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 1440IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 74mg | Iron: 0.4mg