Créme Brûlée: Live, Love & Eat in Sayulita

The best Créme Brûlée you will ever eat! I love Créme Brûlée! Do you love it as much as I do? Please make my recipe and I know that it will be your new “BEST“ recipe to impress your friends at Sayulita dinner parties and get togethers. A few years ago one of my daughters was getting married and I offered to make her favorite dessert … Créme Brûlée for 50! 

So, I bought 50 individual-sized ramekins and began to research recipes. Of course I found the perfect one... 4 simple ingredients and I am happy to say that everyone at the wedding kept saying “this is the creamiest and best Créme Brûlée that I have ever tasted". One of my son-in–laws is a professional chef, so when he said the same, I knew it was true!

Many of Sayulita’s tiendas sell Lyncott’s crema para batir.. Whipping cream ... and of course Mexico always has eggs, sugar, and wonderful pure vanilla (which can be found at Alas Blancas).

If you do not have a regular oven, but have a toaster oven, you can still make this wonderful dessert.

INGREDIENTS:

300 ml crema para batir

1 vanilla bean pod or 1-3 tsp pure vanilla extract ..to taste

3 egg yolks

1T granulated sugar... as fine a sugar as you can find. *if you have a food processor you can make up a container of finely ground granulated sugar.

White sugar for brûlée topping

Kitchen torch for Brûlée *If you do not have a torch, you can use the broil setting on your oven.

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 300

1 - Bring cream and scraped seeds and pod of vanilla bean to almost a boil over medium low heat.

2 - Add yolks and sugar to medium heat proof bowl and stir until just combined.

3 - Pour heated cream in slow stream... whisking gently as you pour. 

Add just a bit to temper* & then you can add in remainder a bit faster.

*If you add hot milk quickly to egg yolks the hot milk will cook the eggs. Dribble in ½ of milk very slowly whisking lightly while adding. Then because mix has now adjusted to hot milk you can add remainder.

4 - Use torch to quickly remove any bubbles. If you do not have a torch, tap lightly on counter and then burst any big bubbles with tip of a knife.

5 - Place empty ramekins into pan on top of cloth and then using a very fine mesh strainer, strain into ramekins, and check for bubbles again.

6- Add COLD water to waterbath* being very careful to not get any water into ramekins.

*Use an 8x8 cake pan lined on bottom with a towel to prevent ramekins from moving around.

I like to use a bathing wash cloth because it fits the pan so well. It's easiest if you cut it to fit inside your 8x8 pan and dedicate it as your Créme Brûlée pan cloth.

7 - Bake 30 min or until still wobbly. Check at 30 min and then 35 min.

DO NOT OVERBAKE

Remove from water bath as soon as they come out of the oven. Do this very carefully. I like to use kitchen tongs and carefully sit ramekins on cooling rack.

When cool, cover the tops with plastic wrap, being sure that the wrap totally touches the top of the custard. Make sure that there are no air pockets that could gather moisture. Poke a few small holes in placed plastic wrap to release any trapped moisture.

Chill in fridge until cold. You can make these up to 5 days ahead of time if you would like.

When ready to serve, remove plastic wrap and sprinkle tops of chilled custard with granulated sugar, tipping to be certain that total surface is covered.

Using kitchen torch, melt sugar and continue to melt until a golden color is reached.

Serve! All you need to do is crack brûléed sugar gently and be sure to have some shards of sugar with each spoonful of delight.

This will definitely be your new “BEST” dessert!

My next column has a mystery ingredient for carb free Savoury Pizza that will shock and delight you! Be sure to tune in!

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