Creme Brulee

So good to have company on this blog. :)

I made this quite awhile ago... but the stupid internet is so slow that I couldn't put a picture up.

Mum bought a recipe magazine from South Africa and Dad found this recipe in it and requested it. So I tried. It worked really well! So tasty.

1 1/2 cups double cream
1/2 cup milk
1 vanilla pod (I used 1 tsp vanilla essence)
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup coarse sugar, raw sugar or castor sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, milk and vanilla pod over medium heat, stirring occassionally. As soon as it begins to boil, turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for at least 15 minutes (I assume this is just if you use a vanilla pod).

2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar.

3. Remove the vanilla pod from the cream mixture. Whisking constantly, gradually pour the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture.

4. Pour the custard into 4 ovenproof ramekins* and place in a deep oven tray. Pour hot water halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in the centre of the oven until almost set but still a bit soft in the centre, about 30-40 minutes. The custard should quiver a bit when you shake the pan, it will firm up more as it cools. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours but no more than 24 hours.

5. When ready to serve, pour as much coarse sugar as will fit into the top of each custard.

6. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan under the very hot oven grill for about 1 - 2 minutes, or use a kitchen blowtorch (I wish!) until the sugar melts and browns nicely. Cool for about a minute before serving. The picture is pre-blowtorched... I actually burnt the last one and the beautifully browned first few were eaten before I took the picture. Fortunately, the internet is so slow that I can't put up the picture of the slightly overcooked one.

*Who on earth has heard of a ramekin?! Anyone? Google defines as: a small fireproof dish used for baking and serving individual portions.

By chef Raymond Rundle, in Food and Home Entertaining, June 2010