So what should you be looking for in the perfect summer brulee? It should be cool, of course. And light, let's not forget light. I don't know about you folks, but I've never liked cloying sweetness in my summer deserts, they shouldn't make you feel sick to your stomache. Well, this brulee has all of that. It isn't one of the harshly-sweet ones like some I've tried and it's pure and simple, just cream, vanilla and maybe a strawberry on the side. How long will this take? Well from start to serve should be about 3-4 hours, but much of that is either cooking or cooling. There's really only about 45 minutes of actual work in here, and none of it too horribly technical. Fairly easy stuff actually, just follow along and you're all set.
Summary: Light, summery sweetness on a spoon!
Ingredients
- 1 quart heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean
- 6 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar
Cooking time (duration): 45
Number of servings (yield): 6
Meal type: dessert
Assembly is straightforward... First, slice open the vanilla beansvanilla bean. But do it this way: Punch the point of a paring knife through the bean and slightly into a cutting board. Then gently pull the bean across the blade of the knife. Much less chance of a "Dan Akroyd as Julia Childe" incident in the kitchen. Hehe, that one's a favorite of ours here at Nommy. Anyway, once you have the bean split you'll need to open it up along the split edge and scrape the bean paste out of it. Place the paste, both halves of the bean and the quart of heavy creme into a sauce pot. Gently bring that up just short of a boil then remove from heat and let cool for about 15 minutes. While that's cooling separate 6 egg yolks and whisk then with 1/2 cup of sugar. Mix them just until the yolks change color to a lighter yellow. Set that aside until the cream has cooled. Now, remove the bean husks from the cream and very carefully temper the yolks with the warm cream. Tempering is a way of slowly raising the temperature of something. If you just dumped the hot cream into the yolks they would cook and set up like scrambled eggs. Ladle a few ounces of cream in at a time while you whisk the yolks, you may need a second set of hands (Hello CC!) to help out here. Once all of both liquids are mixed up place 6 ramekins into a 13x9 cake pan and ladle the cream mix into them, carefully. Place the pan in the oven and fill it with hot water. This water will act as a buffer and keep the outside of the creme brulees from cooking too fast. Bake these in an oven at 325 for 45 minutes. When you pull them out the centers will still be slightly shaky, don't worry. Put them into the fridge for a few hours until nice and cool. Pull them out and toast them once you are ready to serve them! Not before. The best part of the brulee is the brulee part, the burnt sugary crust on top. To do this you will need... a propane torch from Home Depot or Lowes. Yes, I know the local Kitchen Gadgetpalooza store sells a burner just for creme brulees, but the plumbing aisle of either of those stores will do just fine. Plus your setup with a sweet little fire starter and who the hell knows when you may need to go all "What Makes a Man Start Fires?
OG MAKE FIRE" on something. What? Well, however you toast the tops do it either right before you serve them or, preferably, at the table. It's a nice spectacle plus there's more people around to help put you out. You know, just in case OG takes over or something. Thanks to Lyssa Gipson for doing the bulk of the photo work on this one! Great job, miss!
