The Best Creme Brulee Recipe

🧂 Ingredients

• 4 cups heavy cream

  chilled
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• Pinch salt
• 1 vanilla bean

  halved lengthwise
• 10 large egg yolks
• ¼ cup turbinado sugar

Instructions

• 1 Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 300
  degrees. Cover the bottom of a roasting pan with a dish towel.
• 2 Arrange eight 6-ounce ramekins in the pan, making sure they don't touch.
• 3 Combine 2 cups of the cream, the granulated sugar, and salt in a medium
  saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the pan with the
  pod. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to
  dissolve the sugar. Off the heat, cover and let steep for 15 minutes.
• 4 Stir in the remaining 2 cups cream.
• 5 Place the yolks in a large bowl and slowly whisk in 1 cup of the cream mixture
  until smooth. Whisk in the remaining cream mixture until thoroughly combined.
  Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a large measuring cup or pitcher. Pour
  the custard evenly into the ramekins.
• 6 Bring a kettle of water to a boil
• 7 Place the pan in the oven and carefully pour enough boiling water into the pan
  to reach two-thirds of the way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until the
  centers of the custards are just barely set and are no longer sloshy, 30 to 35
  minutes (25 to 30 minutes for shallow fluted dishes) and up to an hour for
  deeper dishes, just make sure the middles don't slosh when you gently move the
  pan).
• 8 Transfer the ramekins to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2
  hours. Set the ramekins on a baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and
  refrigerate until cold, about 4 hours.
• 9 Just before serving, uncover the ramekins and gently blot the tops dry with a
  paper towel. Sprinkle each ramekin with 1-2 teaspoons turbinado sugar, then
  shake the ramekin to spread the sugar in an even layer. Pour out any excess
  sugar and wipe away from the inside rim of the ramekin. Ignite a torch and
  caramelize the sugar. Refrigerate the ramekins, uncovered, to rechill the
  custards, 30 to 45 minutes (but no longer). Serve.
• 10 e sure to burn the sugar topping on the creme brulee just before serving. If
  done too far in advance (more than a half hour or so), the caramelized sugar
  topping will soften and eventually turn to liquid caramel. For a real show, do
  it in front of your guests and don't worry about chilling a second time.
• 11 After sprinkling the sugar over the surface of the custard, tilt and tap the
  ramekin to distribute the sugar in a thin, even layer
• 12 To caramelize the sugar, sweep the flame from the perimeter of the custard
  toward the middle, keeping the flame about 2 inches above the ramekin. The sugar
  is properly caramelized when bubbling and deep golden brown.

Nutrition Info