‘Crème brûlée’ is one of the most classic French desserts that probably don’t need a description. To this day, a vast majority of French restaurants have their version on their menu.

If you have never made some before, it is actually not that hard. The torching part at the end is actually quite fun and can be an interactive activity with your guests at the table while serving.

The quantities I am using today are for 4 ramekins with a 12-cm diameter. They can contain up to 170 ml of liquid. I recommend that you check the capacity of your ramekins by pouring water and measuring how much liquid they hold. When you are doing that, don’t fill the ramekins all the way to the top because when we make crème brûlée, we want a bit of headspace.

Once you’ve figured out the capacity of your ramekins, adjust the recipe to make the quantity you need.

INGREDIENTS FOR CRÈME BRÛLÉE

• Heavy cream
• Egg yolks
• White granulated sugar
• Vanilla/vanillin sugar or vanilla extract
• Brown sugar

DIRECTIONS FOR CRÈME BRÛLÉE

1. Preheat the oven to 165°C (325°F). Place the rack in the middle of the oven.
2. In a pot over medium heat, heat the heavy cream for 5 minutes without boiling while stirring continuously. Then remove from heat and set aside on the counter.
3. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla/vanillin sugar or vanilla extract (see Notes).
4. Pour a little bit of the cream into the egg mixture and whisk. This is to temper the eggs so they don’t curdle.
5. Gradually pour the rest of the cream to the bowl while whisking continuously.
6. Pour the custard mixture through a sieve/mesh strainer into the ramekins, dividing the custard evenly between the ramekins and leaving a bit of headspace at the top of each.
7. Place the ramekins into an oven-proof baking tray.
8. Pour hot water into the tray up to 3/4 of the height of the ramekins.
9. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
10. Remove the ramekins from the baking dish. Let cool, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
11. Right before you are ready to serve: sprinkle a layer of brown sugar over the ramekins (if you brown sugar is lumpy, sift it through a sieve/mesh strainer to get even fine grains). Gently tap the ramekins to achieve an even layer of sugar across the surface of the custard.
12. Melt the sugar a kitchen torch until you no longer see sugar grains. Do not get the flame too close to the sugar, which will burn rather than melt it. You can also do this step in the oven with the broiler setting.

RECIPE VIDEO

Crème brûlée

Recipe by MM Bon Appétit Course: DessertsCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

10

minutes

A classic French dessert consisting of sweet creamy baked custard and a crispy layer of torched sugar

Ingredients

• 500 ml 500 heavy cream

• 4 4 egg yolks

• 60 g 60 sugar

• 8 g 8 vanilla/vanillin sugar or vanilla extract (see Notes)

• 20 g 20 brown sugar (see Notes)

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 165°C (325°F). Place the rack in the middle of the oven.
• In a pot over medium heat, heat the heavy cream for 5 minutes without boiling while stirring continuously. Then remove from heat and set aside on the counter.
• In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla/vanillin sugar or vanilla extract (see Notes).
• Pour a little bit of the cream into the egg mixture and whisk. This is to temper the eggs so they don’t curdle.
• Gradually pour the rest of the cream to the bowl while whisking continuously.
• Pour the custard mixture through a sieve/mesh strainer into the ramekins, dividing the custard evenly between the ramekins and leaving a bit of headspace at the top of each.
• Place the ramekins into an oven-proof baking tray.
• Pour hot water into the tray up to 3/4 of the height of the ramekins.
• Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
• Remove the ramekins from the baking dish. Let cool, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
• Right before you are ready to serve: sprinkle a layer of brown sugar over the ramekins (if you brown sugar is lumpy, sift it through a sieve/mesh strainer to get even fine grains). Gently tap the ramekins to achieve an even layer of sugar across the surface of the custard.
• Melt the sugar a kitchen torch until you no longer see sugar grains. Do not get the flame too close to the sugar, which will burn rather than melt it. You can also do this step in the oven with the broiler setting.

Recipe Video

Notes

• Vanilla: If you do not have vanilla or vanillin sugar, replace with 1 tbsp of vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean pod.
• Brown sugar: you can also use regular white sugar for the crispy caramel layer, but we find that brown sugar works better.

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