Published December 5, 2020
I never really understood the allure of Crème Brûlée.
I think what it comes down to is I don’t care about the sugar crust on the top. For many, I understand, that is the best part. To me, I want the creamy part underneath and I’m not interested in playing with a blow torch.
Despite this, a year or so ago I started playing with the custard part of crème brûlée and doing different flavorings. So far, ginger worked really well, coffee is a work in progress, and orange was good yet tasted exactly like bright orange ice cream.
I present the recipe I use for the custard part. It’s from The New Professional Chef published by the CIA.
Dissolve the sugar in cream over heat. Temper in the egg yolks at a low enough temp that they don’t scramble.
Pour into oven safe ramekins in a water bath.
Cook in oven at 325F for 45 minutes.
This is a modification I did for Thanksgiving and Christmas 2020 with chocolate. I believe this is the closest I’ve come to the “chocolate mousse of my childhood” which in hindsight was actually pots du creme or creme brulee base.
Make as above.
Note: By my math, this makes 10 servings if served in 3 1/2oz ramekins
December 2021 Notes: I used 3oz of egg yolks rather than 4oz and the result was pleasingly softer. I have felt previous batches were awfully stiff. Especially the chocolate version.
Also, I used 1/2 of Guttiard milk chocolate and 1/2 of Guttiard extra dark chocolate for the chocolate mixture and the result was a good balance of chocolate to sweet.
I don’t have the notes with me on what I did for the ginger ones which were the most sublime. Basically I steeped peeled minced ginger in cream overnight.
A good source of flavor ideas is look at what ice cream people do to flavor their ice creams. It’s the same idea. Just their’s is frozen. However since Crème Brûlée is served cold the flavor issues are the same (cold deadens flavor, etc).