Crème Brûlée
This was a big hit at dessert tonight. Lightly adapted from the New York Times recipe.
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out
- 1 pinch salt
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar (generous), plus more for topping
Preheat oven to 325 F. In a saucepan, combine cream, vanilla bean (including caviar), and salt, and heat until just hot. Cover off the heat and let sit for a few minutes.
Beat yolks and sugar together until light (don’t overdo it–not too foamy). Stir about a quarter of the hot cream into the mixture, then add the warmed egg mixture into the rest of the cream. Strain to remove vanilla bean pod and any solid bits.
Divide among small ramekins (it perfectly fits 5 of our smallest ones). Bake in a bain marie (use boiling water to about halfway up the ramekins) for 40-ish minutes. The centers will be very jiggly. Chill thoroughly. Sprinkle about 1 tsp of sugar on top of each and torch or broil to melt and brown the sugar. If using the broiler, return to the refrigerator for a couple of hours to re-chill before serving (no more than 2 hours).
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