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products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing. Are you cooking something sweet for Valentine’s Day? We asked our readers on Twitter and Facebook if there was anything they hoped to attempt for the first time this year, and crème brûlée came up. Crème brûlée is such an astonishingly easy treat, and I was happy for the excuse to revisit it. Here’s a recipe and step-by-step guide to making crème brûlée in your own kitchen — no torch or special equipment required, and you’ll only need five or six ingredients to get that sweet, creamy custard with a shattering sugar crust. Why Make Creme Brûlée at Home?Crème brûlée is really one of the simplest desserts to make. But like French onion soup, it seems to be a dessert that many people don’t realize they can make at home. It’s such a staple of restaurants — it must be finicky and difficult, right? Nope! There’s no stovetop stirring, no need for a mixer. There are no specialty ingredients or tools involved. All you do is mix up a few egg yolks with cream and a little sugar. Bake, then chill and broil with sugar on top. For Your Information
Key Steps for Making Creme Brûlée at Home
Brûléeing and Serving the CremeSome cooks use a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar on top of the custard, but why buy a gadget for this one use? Okay, some of us like crème brûlée a lot, and maybe if you’re making it every week it’s worth it to buy a torch. But honestly, the oven broiler will do a fine job. I follow Alton Brown’s advice of putting the ramekins in a cold oven, then turning on the broiler. This helps keep the custard cool while getting the top crisp. You can also make an Instant Pot crème brûlée, but an oven-broiled crème brûlée tends to be a little more rustic, spattered with craters of burnt sugar, blackened around the edges, with piebald pale spots here and there. I do not mind this. In fact, I like my crème brûlée just this side of burnt; I think that such a sweet, rich custard needs the dark, nearly bitter burnt sugar to balance it out. You can also add a twist to this dessert by making a pumpkin crème brûlée, or a no-bake version during fall. So here you are: crème brûlée. Happy tap, tap, tapping! egg yolks vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract powdered sugar heavy cream granulated sugar Equipment
Instructions
Recipe NotesMake ahead: The crème brûlées can be made and stored in the refrigerator before the final brûlée for up to 2 days. How long does creme brulee need to be chilled for?Creme Brûlée bakes for about an hour, but will need to chill for at least 30 minutes before being brûléed. The custard will firm up considerably in the refrigerator, so take it out of the oven when it has set into that very-jiggly-not-liquid consistency.
How do you chill creme brulee fast?Chilling the Creme Brulee to Make it Set Quicker
We sometimes place the ramekins in the freezer to chill more quickly. Do not let the custards freeze.
Do you refrigerate creme brulee after baking?You DO have to plan ahead a bit for classic creme brulee as it has to cool in the fridge after cooking. But the best part is it makes the perfect dessert for entertaining, because it can be made up to four days ahead of time.
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