Crème brûlée

Adapted from the New York Times recipe!

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups heavy cream, 0.5 cups whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar

The original NYT recipe calls for 1/2 cup sugar and 2 cups heavy cream. This is way too sweet/rich for me. I think using a milk/heavy cream mixture is also good to reduce the richness.

Cooking: preheat the oven to 325F and also boil a pot of water. In a saucepan, combine the cream and salt, and cook over low heat until warm/slightly steaming. Do not allow it to curdle. Stir in the vanilla.

In a bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar together until smooth. Slowly pour and stir the cream mixture into the egg yolks so as not to heat it up too fast. Pour the final mixture into ramekins. Then, place the ramekins into a hot water bath and bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes. They are to be baked until the centers are barely set. To tell, tap the side of the ramekin. The center should jiggle slightly, and the surface of the mixture should not “flow” like water, but rather be somewhat like a film.

Finally, put them in the fridge to cool. When serving, pour a generous layer of white sugar over the top and use a blowtorch caramelize the top. You should have a smooth crispy sugar coating at the top. If the coating is too thin, this means you didn’t add enough sugar.