Crème Brûlé

A nice warm dessert for an extra special occasion!

For step-by-step pictoral directions see: Cooking for Engineers

Ingredients:
1 Cup Whipping Cream (30% fat)
4 Egg Yolks
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Vanilla-Butter (this is the German version of vanilla extract in liquid form)
4 Custard dishes (small bowl or baking forms that are oven safe)
1 large Casserole Dish
Water
Propane Blow Torch or Kitchen Butane Torch
some extra Sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250°F(121°C).
In a bowl beet Sugar and Egg Yolks until smooth. In a small sauce pan heat the Whipping Cream until almost simmering, and let it cook for 1 minute. Then, add warmed Whipping Cream to the Egg Yolk mixture a little at a time and stir together. **If you pour the war Whipping Cream in all at once it will cook the egg yolks and it will ruin the whole recipe by making scrabled eggs.** Pour the mixture of the Egg Yolks, Sugar, and Whipping Cream through a sieve into another bowl to catch any clumps. Mix in the Vanilla Extract after the mixture has run through the sieve. Pour the mixture into 4 Custard containers.

Place the large Casserole Dish on the middle wrack of the preheated-oven and place the filled Custard Dishes in the Caserole Dish. Fill the Casserole Dish with enough water to be half-way up the sides of the Custard Dishes. Bake for 40-60 minutes. Then "check to see if the custards are done. We want them to be set on the outside edge, but jiggly (like jello) at the center. The easiest way to do this is to take a pair of tongs with food grade rubber bands wrapped around the ends to help grip the ramekins. Pick up a ramekin and shake to see if the centers jiggle. If the only the center jiggles a little, it's done. If the whole thing is set, remove immediately - it'll be a little over done, but still delicious. If it's not done, just put it back in the water bath and check again in ten minutes. Once the custards are done, let them cool on a cooling rack to room temperature. This will let the custards finish cooking the centers on their own."--Cooking for Engineers

Once cooled, place the Custard Dishes in a fire-safe location, such as on a metal table or a cutting board wrapped in aluminum foil, away from any objects that may catch fire, such as house plants, napkins, etc. Sprinkle some extra Sugar over the Custard in each dish until the entire surface is lightly covered. With the Blow torch, heat the sugar until it browns (don't burn..turn black) by placing the blow torch over the sugar on the Custard until each location turns a light golden brown, then move to the next location. Pick up with oven mits..it will be very hot! Then, enjoy!


*You may also make it a day ahead of time and refrigerate, this will make the Crème Brûlé a bit cooler since it has been chilled for a few hours, but it will still be good. I experimented with both eating it only 1 hour after cooking it and the next day after chilling it, and I prefere to eat it the same day when it is still warm all the way through.