Basic Creme Brulee

A cool, creamy dessert with a crunchy caramel topping. To me, cracking into homemade creme brulee is one of life's best simple pleasures. The beautiful thing about creme brulee is that once you find a recipe you like, you can let your imagination run wild. Fresh fruit, toasted nuts, or a suprise ganache layer--the possibilities are endless. And although this dessert might sound complicated, it's surprisingly simple!

This is my basic recipe, although it can be tweaked in many ways. I like it because it yields 5 to 6 servings and and doesn't use that many egg yolks or creme compared to other recipes. If you want to make it less fattening, you can use any mixture of heavy whipping creme, half and half, or milk. Traditionally, 3 cups of heavy creme are used, but I find that 2 cups of heavy creme and 1 cup of half and half yield the same rich result with a little less fat (and less expensive whipping creme).

Using real vanilla beans makes an incredible difference with your creme brulee. If you're a creme brulee connoisseur, it's well worth the investment. There are alot of sites and many affordable options. If you don't have vanilla beans, just substitute 1 teaspoon of vanilla and mix it in with the creme and eggs.

Creme Brulee

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup half and half
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 extra-large egg
4 extra-large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven 300 degrees F.

Combine creme, vanilla bean and pulp in a saucepan just until it begins to boil. Remove from heat, cover, and let it sit for 15 minutes. Remove vanilla bean.

Combine egg, egg yolks and sugar. Slowly add the cream. Prepare some boiling water. Using a soup ladle, spoon the mixture into the ramekins. Place ramekins in a baking pan and place in the oven. Pour boiling water in the pan until it reaches about half way up the ramekin. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove ramekins from pan and let cool. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

To serve, sprinkle each ramekin with sugar and heat with a blowtorch. Enjoy!