Carrying on with our daily lockdown afternoon tea tradition today, this time with clementine creme brûlée.
It’s such an easy, tasty and naturally gluten free dessert that requires next to no effort. Except having the patience to wait for them to set in the fridge for a few hours.
I’ve looked up so many creme brûlée recipes over the years and they’re all nearly identical. It’s just one of those basic classic dessert. But they all seem to fall in either one of two groups: those who use only cream and those who also add milk.
I personally prefer the former as it’s simpler and there’s no need to even warm it up in a saucepan first. Just mix your ingredients, pour it into ramekin pots and bake. Easy peasy.
I added clementine zest and juice in mine which was so delicious, but feel free to leave it out for a classic vanilla creme brûlée.
P.S.: credit goes to Adam Ragusea for his brilliant no-torch idea i.e. melting sugar with a bit of honey and water in a saucepan, basically making caramel and burning it, then pouring it on top to create the topping. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone else do this and it works so well.
- 150g double cream
- 2 egg yolks
- 2-3 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 clementine
- 3-4 tsp clementine juice
- Sugar (enough for a thin coating on top of each portion)
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- Half a tsp honey (or syrup)
- A splash of water
COOKING TIME: about 45 mins
* MULTIPLY THE RECIPE AS NEEDED
Directions
- Pre-heat the oven to 120C (250F).
- Separate your eggs.
- Combine the egg yolks with the double cream, sugar, vanilla, clementine zest and juice and mix until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into two ramekin pots (or more if making a bigger batch).
- Bake on the middle shelf for about 45 minutes. Keep checking them from time to time. Basically they should be slightly jiggly when you tap/shake the pots lightly.
- Take your clementine creme brûlée out of the oven and let them cool down.
- Then wrap with cling film and refrigerate until set, a few hours or overnight.
FOR THE TOPPING:
WITH a blow torch:
- add a thin layer of sugar on top and melt/burn using a torch. Then let them cool down for a few minutes.
WITHOUT a blow torch:
- in a small saucepan, mix the sugar, honey and a little bit of water and cook on medium heat until it starts turning a nice golden colour. You don’t need to stir the mixture at any point during this process.
- Then quickly pour the mixture over your creme brûlée and angle the pots in a circular motion to spread it evenly over the top. You’ll have to be fast as the caramel will harden quickly. Note: yes the caramel layer is a bit thicker than it should be, but it’s delicious either way!
- Let them cool down for a few minutes and serve.
Kimi x
This does not require a water bath which is new to me? It’s in the oven now but figured I’d ask for future reference