creme brulee is a very elegant french desert, very chic and always in fashion. the smooth vanilla cream is joined in contrast by a layer of hard caramel which is prepared just before serving.
obviously, there is an entire dispute between the english and the french regarding the origin of this desert. the english call it "burnt cream" or "trinity cream", since they also have a version of this desert. even the spanish say that they have created it first ("crema catalana" or "crema de saint joseph"), but their recipe does not include boiling in bain marie, while in the "creme brulee" recipe, this is mandatory.
creme brulee, in its french version is flavored with vanilla, lemon peel, liquors, chocolate, coffee, etc.
the result is exceptional: the finest and creamiest creme brulee you've ever eaten.
ingredients:
- 420 ml fat sour cream "double creme"
- 4 yolks of eggs
- 70 gr sugar
- aromas
we've changed a bit the recipe to make it more dietetic (and in a larger quantity):
- 400 ml liquid sour cream with 25% fat
- 300ml milk, 0% fat
- 8 eggs
- vanilla essence
- rasped orange peel
- one vanilla stick
- 150g fructose
- a little brown sugar for the final caramel layer
mix the milk with the sour cream and put the to boil. cut the vanilla stick in half along its length, take the seeds out and put them in the milk. the vanilla stick is boiled in milk as well. at the end you can take the vanilla stick out or you can add it cut in cubes (based on how you like it).
break the eggs and whisk them with fructose
after the sour cream started to boil, reduce the fire to minimum. add a bit of the sour cream composition in the egg composition, constantly mixing, until it becomes hot.
then pour the warm egg composition in the bowl in which the sour cream and the milk are boiling, continuously mixing.
keep this composition on the lowest fire level, continuously mixing, until it gets a bit thicker (like a thin sour cream).
in the meantime, heat up the oven to 140 degrees celsius.
pout the composition in special, thermo-resistant bowls which are put in a tall trey, filled in half with hot water.
bake them about 30 minutes, until they get a crust, but the composition is still mobile when moving the tray.
take the bowls out of the tray and let the cool down to the room temperature, then put them in the fridge until they're very cold (about 2 hours).
then, take them out and create the caramel layer. for this, you'll need a gas torch. put a thin layer of the sugar on the hardened cream and burn it under the flame.
if you don't have the torch, you can make the caramel in the classic way, buy melting the sugar and pouring it over the cream. it's still delicious!
you can decorate with orange slices or with cinnamon.
they are delicious with any topping.
the original variant, before adding the caramel:
bon apetit!