Before reading any further, I must warn you that I have received marriage proposals from many a woman straight after they had a taste of this stuff, so handle with care please!! Save this one for a day where you really need to pull out all the stops!
Creme Brulée (translates to Burnt Cream in French) has always been one of my favorite desserts. I used to believe that it is incredibly difficult to make, as anything that tastes so good surely can’t be within my reach at home. How wrong I was! Luckily I don’t like taking no for an answer, so when I eventually bought the blooming blowtorch I gave it a bash and LOVED the results, mine was even better than the restaurant’s!
One day I decided to combine it with another favorite of mine, White Lindt Lindor, and this is the result.
For normal creme brulée you can still follow this recipe, just leave the chocolate out.
Ingredients:
- 500ml fresh cream
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 vanilla pod
- 200gm (2 slabs) White Lindt Lindor Chocolate
Start preheating your oven to 150 degrees celsius.
Next get your cream in a pot on medium heat. Do not let the cream boil at any stage. Then get the seeds out of a vanilla pod and chuck that in with the cream. Whisk it a little bit to loosen up the tiny seeds.
Let that warm up and give the vanilla some time to flavor the cream.
Next time to grate the chocolate. Look at these beauties! I always find it extremely difficult not to eat it all there and then. Be strong!
Grate the chocolate and chuck it in with the cream. *Tip* if you put the chocolate in the freezer for a while before grating, it will be less prone to melting and easier to handle.*
Next we need to set up the makeshift Bain-marie. Get our your oven pan and a clean dishcloth, Fold the dishcloth in half and place at the bottom of the pan, fold over any corners that are standing up. This is to avoid your ramekins moving all over the show when you pour in the water later.
Place 6 ramekins on the cloth, you should have something that looks like this.
Now get a large mixing bowl and chuck your 6 egg yolks in, along with the 1/2 a cup of sugar, whisk that through a bit, do not go crazy or use an electric whisk, just mix well.
Ok this part is very important to understand. We now need to mix the eggs on with the cream. Problem is that if we do it too quickly, the eggs will cook to fast and will turn into something that resembles scrambled eggs, which we obviously do not want. Here is how to go about it.
Place a damp cloth on your kicthen counter and place the mixing bowl with the egg mixture on top. This will help keep the bowl in place.
You may need someone to help with this part. Carefully pour a little bit (and I mean about a tablespoon) of the hot cream in with the eggs while whisking away. Keep whisking at a medium pace. You will see the cream become part of the egg mixture, then drop in a little bit more and repeat. Keep going with this until you have blended in half of the cream, you can then pour in more of it at a time.
Once you are done mixing in the cream, you may notice a foamy layer on top. You can scoop that off with a slotted spoon like so, drag the spoon over the top just skimming the surface.
Now ladle this mixture into the ramekins, fill the pan halfway up the side of the ramekins with hot tap water, and bake in the oven for 50 minutes at 150 degrees.
After 50 minutes, get the pan out of the oven, be careful when opening the oven, a lot of steam will probably hit you in the face.
Use kitchen tongs or a dishcloth to get the ramekins out of the hot water immediately. Place them on another dishcloth to cool down to close to room temperature, about 45 minutes. Now you can chuck them in the fridge for 2-3 hours, the longer the better.
Just before serving, throw a little sugar in the middle of the ramekin and shake it around until the entire surface is covered.
You will notice some extra sugar that does not want to stick, tilt the ramekin on its side and throw most of that sugar off. You can experiment with different amounts of sugar, it depends on how thick a “crust” you want.
Next it’s blowtorch time! You want to move the torch around quickly to melt all the sugar first. Once all the sugar is melted it will become cream, then you can hold the torch still on a spot for a little longer to start making the burn marks. It is an important part of the flavor.
Hopefully you end up with something like this. 
Give it a go and tell me what you think!
It is only my favorite dessert and now you have gone and ruined it for me forever. How will I ever enjoy it agin without white chocolate?
Hehehe, my humblest apologies! Thanks ;)
Yummy! I’ll try this one day when I’m not 23 months pregnant! I luuurve creme brulee.
So Fritz! Is jy nou-al getroud na al daardie lekker omkoop poedings???? Heehee. Nice blog!
Hahahaha nee nog nie, ek wag nog vir een wat die skottelgoed was na die ete!
Pro looking creme brulee! Nice to see another blogger on the block.
PS: Do you know about the Food Blogger Indaba? It’s on in Feb in Cape Town and all foodbloggers welcome.
Thanks Marisa! I do know about it yea, have a few conflicting commitments, but will see if I can make it!
OH MY HAT!! Valentines Day is coming….all the single ladies out there had better beware. What an awesome recipe. And I really like your blog. Well done. xx
Thanks, and yea, I am giving my fellow single dude a secret weapon, lets see if it works!
Have you heard about the food and wine bloggers indaba that will be happening soon in Cape Town?? Go take a peek if you’re interested http://foodbloggaindaba.wordpress.com It is going to be really good!!
Yea I know about it, going to try to make it. thx
Ok, I am married, #1 and #2 I have twins. But I am willing to walk to wherever you are and leave them here if you will make me a giant bowl of this! How can you do this to me? I think I am going to go cry into my glass of lemon water right about now. Ps. I hate you! ;)
Hahahaha, my humblest apologies! Thanks for stopping by! Please try give it a try when you are off the lemon water and let me know what you think. I am eating one of the leftover ones of last night now, and ooooooooooooh….
YUM, ek kan nie wag om die te maak!!! DANKIE!
I made these last night and couldn’t resist having one for breakfast!
Holy Krakatoa it was sublime!
Shot for the feedback dude, enjoy them!
Fritz is not lying about the marriage proposals, I nearly lost my wife due to these :)
Definitely the number 1 Creme Brulée I have ever had.
Hahaha, thanks bro! I’m not done trying my luck with her though, be prepared!
Cheers bro
Unbelievable !
Believe it, cause it’s true! hahaha
Wow! This was an easy recipe to follow. I have them in the oven cooking RIGHT NOW! I plan to take them to the in-law’s house for Easter celebration. Wish me luck. :0) Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Sarah, good luck with the in-laws! Let me know how they turned out please!
Hi Fritz. Sorry for the delay – I completely forgot I’d posted to you earlier and came back for the recipe so I can make them again! I have to tell you, the brulees were PERFECT and are now my all time favourite dessert. Once everyone had started eating the room was in complete silence. Quite a funny scene. Thanks again for sharing the recipe. Sarah :0) Australia
Hi Sarah
Thank you SO much for the great feedback, it really means a lot to me!
I am so happy that they worked out well for you, and I know EXACTLY what you mean about that silent 2 minutes where everyone is scoffing it down, I get the same thing every time! I think that is the sign to look out for, if people are talking you messed it up hahaha!
Try them sometime without the Chocolate, the recipe works if you just leave out the chocolate too, for a stock standard Creme Brulee, it is also a winner!
No worries about the feedback. My pleasure. Thank you fr the recipe!!! Okay – I will have a go without the chocolate! What other dessert recipes do you have? I LOVE dessert! :0)
I also saw your recipe for the garlic and oregano balsamic reduction for the grilled tomato and cheese sandwich. I’ve never heard of doing this before, but like you, grilled tomato and cheese sandwiches are one of my all-time favourite foods (honestly, I could eat them every day). I endeavour to make your reduction and try it out. Exciting! I’ll let you know how I go.
Hi Sarah
No other desert recipes thus far unfortunately, but good point, I need more of those! I will get cracking!
The balsamic reduction is great yea, just be sure to do it in a well ventilated area, the fumes that come off the vinegar as you heat it can be a bit much!
Looking forward to hearing from you again!