Crème Brûlée

What's your favorite dessert?  The other day Betsy asked me "if you had to be any dessert, what would you be?"   Before really thinking about it I said a Cupcake (duh) but after a while I realized that if I was going to be any dessert it would be crème brûlée.  Super. Absolute. Fav.

It's such a decadent and smooth dessert, rich but not overpowering... basically it's perfection.  I love the vanilla bean flecks in the custard and the hard sugar shell is so fun to make.  Yay for an excuse to use the butane torch! If you've never had crème brûlée before (Betsy, I'm looking at you!) then go to your kitchen now.  I mean like NOW, NOW and MAKE THIS DESSERT! If you've never made crème brûlée before, please don't stress... it's actually pretty easy and totally worth the time.  You'll need a lot heavy cream and a lot of egg yolks (so find some cupcakes to make that call for egg whites-so you don't have to waste anything) but that's about it!

Crème Brûlée (Recipe Source: Alton Brown)

• 1 quart heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• ½ cup vanilla sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 6 large egg yolks
• 2 quarts hot water
• 6 tablespoons sugar in the raw

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together ½ cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
4. Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top.  Evenly sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar in the raw on each ramekin. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Hope you like.... if you have any questions, please let me know!

Happy ALOHA Friday, Javacupcakers! xo-Jenn