Crème Brûlée

From the book The Basic Gourmet Entertains by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, and Kathleen Taggart

Serves

Introduction

Custards of various kinds are favorite desserts nearly the world over. Crème brûlée is a custard sporting a crisp disk of caramelized sugar on top. It has a satisfyingly rich flavor and seductive texture but doesn’t leave dinner guests overly full. The custard is best made a day ahead and refrigerated overnight. The sugar topping should be caramelized about thirty minutes before serving, and then the crème brûlée should go back in the refrigerator to keep the caramelized topping crisp.

Ingredients

	~	Nonstick cooking spray
	9	large egg yolks
	9	Tbsp. granulated sugar
	2¼	cups whipping cream
	1½	tsp. pure vanilla extract
	½	tsp. freshly grated nutmeg or scant
	¼	tsp. packaged ground nutmeg
	12	Tbsp. dark brown sugar

Steps

Preheat oven to 275°F. Spray eight 4-ounce ramekins (see Cook’s Note) with nonstick spray. Have ready two 9-by-13-inch baking dishes.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk yolks until a bit thickened. Add granulated sugar and whisk until dissolved. Add cream, vanilla, and nutmeg, and whisk to mix well. Divide among ramekins. Set 4 ramekins in each baking dish and set baking dishes on middle rack of oven. Pour warm–not hot–water into baking dishes until water comes about two-thirds of the way up outside of ramekins. Bake, uncovered, until a thin-bladed knife inserted into center of a custard comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove baking dishes from oven and allow custards to cool in water bath 10 minutes. Remove ramekins to a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes, then cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours before serving.
About 30 minutes before serving, preheat broiler and adjust rack so it is 5 to 6 inches from heating element or burner. Arrange custards on a baking sheet and sprinkle brown sugar evenly over tops of custards. Place under broiler and allow heat to melt and caramelize sugar. Wisps of rising smoke indicate sugar is almost caramelized. The process takes only a few seconds. The trick is to caramelize the sugar thoroughly without actually blackening and burning it. When topping is a rich brown color, remove ramekins from broiler, cool a couple of minutes, and refrigerate to firm custard. Serve within 30 to 45 minutes.

Notes

A ramekin is a small souffle-shaped dish. We recommend porcelain over stoneware because it is somewhat more heat resistant.

This content is from the book The Basic Gourmet Entertains by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, and Kathleen Taggart.