Homemade Creme Brûlée: the perfect spoon dessert

The creme brûlée is a spoon dessert whose origin is disputed between France and England. Let’s find out how it is prepared.

The creme brûlée, literally burnt cream, is a typical French dessert , as it is easy to guess from the name. In essence, it is a cooked custard covered with a thin layer of caramelized sugar . The characteristic aroma is that of vanilla, but there is no lack of more daring and particular versions.

Preparing the vanilla creme brûlée is really simple and requires no special procedures. Particularly there are the final steps that involve first cooking in the oven in a bain-marie and then the creation of the particular sugar crust with the torch . But fear not: preparing our creme brûlée dessert has never been easier.

How to make creme brûlée

1. First, heat the milk and cream without boiling them together with the vanilla bean cut lengthwise.
2. Separately, in a bowl, mix the egg yolks with the sugar without whipping them.
3. Then pour in the hot mixture, removing the berry and always mixing with a whisk.
4. The cream thus obtained is poured into 6 single-portion molds for creme brûlée positioned inside a pan suitable for cooking in the oven.
5. Then add as much water to the pan as necessary to cover the cocottine for a third and cook at 140 ° C for 70 minutes .
6. Remove from the oven and spread a teaspoon of sugar on each, then caramelize with the appropriate torch . If you don’t have this little tool, place the cocottine on the top shelf of the oven and turn on the grill until you notice that the sugar has started to brown.

Preparing the creme brûlée with the recipe we have proposed is really simple. So do not be intimidated by the fame of this dessert and try it, perhaps serving it as a meal on the most important occasions.

History of creme brûlée

We have defined creme brûlée as a French dessert due to the fact that the first recipe dates back to 1691 and is contained in a French cookbook. In reality, it seems that its origin is English and that creme brûlée is just another name for custard.

To make history lean towards this interpretation there is the custom, in vogue since 1879, of preparing this cream by imprinting the coat of arms of Trinity College in Cambridge on the surface. The link between the dessert and the prestigious university is therefore really strong and it is not clear from which side of the Channel it was born.

In all cases, we invite you not to confuse it with creme brulee . Take a look at the differences and, if you really want to be sure, try them both to realize their differences.

storage

We recommend consuming the cream at the moment when it has already been passed through the torch, otherwise you can leave it for a maximum of 1 day in the fridge , well covered with cling film, and caramelize the surface just before serving.