Creme Brulee

What do you do with leftover egg yolks from making the Look-Alike Hostess Cupcakes?  Well, you could make ice cream...but I don't have an ice cream maker :(.  You could make custard or pudding...but...that seems to mundane.  I know!  How about making CREME BRULEE?!

Had I known all these years how simple it is to make, I might have tried it sooner.  The egg yolks that I had leftover were perfect to make 2 small ramekins of creme brulee for me and Chris.  Ok...both of them were actually for me because we all know Chris doesn't like eggs! 

The hardest part was getting that signature toasted sugar crust on top because I didn't have a torch.  At first I tried one of those long grill lighters and it sorta-kinda worked.  It melted the sugar in a small area reallyyyy slow and probably would have taken up all the fuel just to do one.  So, I tried another trick which was to stick them under the broiler for a bit.  Worked like a charm but almost too effective as it can burn easily.  The other thing that was tricky when not having a torch and needing to use the broiler was you don't want to warm the custard back up yet you don't want to put it back in the fridge after carmelizing the sugar because then it won't be crunchy anymore.  My creative solution to this was to surround the ramekins with ice when they went in the broiler and then let them re-chill in the ice awhile longer before consuming.  Perfect.  A smooth and creamy custard and carmelized crunchy sugar top.

Man...I'm realizing that this particular recipe is at least 2 weeks behind.  I've really got to get a move on to catch back up again!  Oh and apologies for this really bad picture.  It was a late night!  Anyway, without further adieu...here's the recipe.

PS:  Did I mention that Chris and I are going to Paris for a couple days in May?!  I bet they have awesome Creme Brulee among other things there...I'm going to be in culinary heaven!!!

Creme Brulee
Printer-Friendly Version

Yields: 2 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup white sugar, divided
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 medium egg yolks

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Beat egg yolks, 3 Tablespoons sugar, salt, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until thick and creamy.
3. Pour cream into a saucepan and stir over low heat until it almost comes to boil. Remove the cream from heat immediately. Stir cream into the egg yolk mixture; beat until combined.  Pour mixture into two 6 oz. ramekins.
4. Place ramekins in baking dish, and place dish on oven rack. Pour boiling water into dish to halfway up the sides of the ramekins taking care not to splash any water into the ramekins.
5. Bake 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until custard is just set. Chill ramekins in refrigerator 4 to 6 hours.
6. Before serving, sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon sugar over each custard. Use a kitchen torch or oven broiler to brown top, 2 to 3 minutes.  If broiling, place ramekins in a container of ice to keep chilled while browning and then allow to continue chilling out of oven for an additional 30 minutes.

Source: Methods modified from All Recipes