Vanilla Crème Brûlée
Custard built on cream steeped with vanilla bean ground into sugar, baked in a water bath and torched under a brown sugar crust.
Before you start: The card never says how many eggs to use. For two cups of cream and half and half, five yolks plus one whole egg is the usual proportion.
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Ingredients
- ½ vanilla bean, chopped into ¼ inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons sugar (for pulverizing with the vanilla bean)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup half and half
- ¼ cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Egg yolk(s) and egg (quantity not specified in original)
- ½ cup brown sugar (for caramelizing)
- ¼ cup sugar, pulverized until fine (for caramelizing)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Pulverize the vanilla bean with 2 tablespoons sugar in a coffee grinder (or use 1 tablespoon pure vanilla added to the egg instead).
- Warm the cream, half and half, and vanilla sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until steam just rises.
- Whisk the egg yolk, egg, ¼ cup sugar, and salt together in a mixing bowl.
- Temper the hot cream mixture into the eggs, strain into a measuring cup with a pour spout, and divide among six 4-ounce ovenproof ramekins.
- Arrange the ramekins in a baking pan and carefully transfer the pan to the oven. Add hot water to the pan and bake the custard 35-45 minutes, or until just set — do not overcook.
- Remove ramekins from the water bath, cool, then wrap loosely in plastic wrap.
- For the caramel topping, combine ½ cup brown sugar and ¼ cup sugar, pulverized until fine in a food processor, then spread on the cooled brûlées and torch.
Notes
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