I was really looking forward to this weeks recipe! I have never had Crème Brûlée and certainly never made it before so I was a little excited and a little intimidated by such a fancy dessert. Let me tell you! This recipe is easy peasy!!! This was chosen by Mari from Mevrouw Cupcake. New gadgets and dishes were not in the budget for this week, so I had to use what I already had, my taller ramekins and the oven's broiler. I've broiled before, so I wasn't afraid of that.
Instead of making my arm tired of all the whisking, I let my Kitchen Aid do it all. Set it on low and slowly drizzled in the heated milk. Dorie's directions call for this to be baked at 200'F for 50-60 minutes on a baking tray. After reading other's experience's of having to bake it much longer, I was prepared for it. I set my timer for 60 minutes and decided I'd go from there. Whoo hoo! It was already set in 60 minutes! I let it cool for a bit, then put in the fridge for a few hours. I started to worry because my daylight was creeping behind the hill and I wouldn't be able to get pictures of my Crème brûlée, so after 4 hours of chill time, I broiled 2 of them. I wasn't sure which sugar I wanted to use, I've never eaten it before to know which is best or traditional. Dorie gave suggestions on using white sugar or brown sugar for the brûlée, so I made one with each.
I was expecting them to broil up fast, but NO. They took forever! I used a large metal lasagna pan full of ice and 2 ramekins. The ice had melted well before they started bubbling. The brown sugar one was done before the white sugar one. They turned out runny also. Hmpf. The kids enjoyed it though.
*Update: I just made another 2 with brown sugar (I think I prefer it), put them in an 8x8 metal pan full of ice, and they broiled up much quicker. They still turned out runny. My Husband and I sat out on the front porch this evening eating them, alone, without the kids.
I think using a torch would help keep the custard together, and not turn it soupy, like all the heat in the oven turns does. SO, I must add that to my want list. Ok, enough talk...let's eat with our eyes.
I found no reason to strain, except to hold back some of the foam nor to use a lined baking tray. ??
60 minute bake time
2 little ramekins in a large icy pan
brown sugar
white sugar-took longer=more soupier
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8 Lovely Comments:
You did a great job! Love the step by step photos! Glad your whole family enjoyed the crème brûlée!
Looks lovely! What flavor did you make? I've seen a lot of vanilla (bean) but yours looks like creamed coffee... mmmmmm.
On the part of the brûlée, maybe it's because I'm a novice at baking, but every time I've ever made crème brûlée, I've never put the ramekins in a water bath under the broiler. Maybe the steam from the bath was what caused the runniness? A torch is handy, though, I'll admit. I use the broiler when I'm lazy.
Well, they look great! Perhaps if your pan had been closer to the broiler they'd have broiled quicker and not gotten runny? Anyways, you should really get a torch though, it's so much fun to use! :)
Your crème brûlée looks really tasty!!
I like that you tried both brown and white sugar. By the time I re-read the recipe and saw that Dorie suggested using brown, my custards were gone b/c my husband was eating them w/o the brulee!
I think the brown sugar one would have more color. Nice job on the brulee.
Rachelle,
This looks soo good and not too difficult. I added this recipe on the Gretchens' Pantry. Thanks for sharing with us.
This looks great! I love the brown sugar!
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