Peppermint Creme Brulee Recipe - A Spicy Perspective (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret of crème brûlée? ›

Chill custard overnight.

To get the smoothest, most gorgeous crème brûlée, cover the bowl and chill overnight. If you don't have the time, you can continue with the baking, but you'll get the silkiest custards by chilling the mix for at least a few hours.

Plain old table sugar, with its small crystal size, melted evenly and caramelized well, forming a thin, shatteringly crisp layer on top of the custard. In short—perfect. For best results, make sure to apply your sugar in an even layer.

A perfect crème brûlée is served warm at the top of the custard (nearest the torching) and cold at the bottom. You can eat crème brûlée the day you make them; however, be sure to chill the custards for at least three hours before caramelizing the sugar.

French, literally, scorched cream.

Making crème brûlée requires heating heavy cream to a simmer or gentle boil first. Once the heavy cream is hot enough, bakers are tempted to pour all of it at once into the egg yolks. This is the mistake we're talking about because instead of making crème brûlée, you'll be making scrambled eggs.

If there's too much sugar, the crust will start to burn before it melts evenly. Too little, and it will just melt into the custard. Brûléeing the sugar in two steps leads to a more uniform melting of the sugar granules and a nice even caramel color.

"You really need to use white granulated sugar," says senior food editor Chris Morocco. The small granules caramelize quickly, meaning the sugar won't get overly burnt and the pudding won't melt. Also, he points out: The white crystals provide a visual cue as you're torching it.

Don't chill too long after adding topping: Once you caramelize the topping, don't refrigerate the crème brûlée longer than 30 minutes because the gorgeous hardened top will deteriorate and become soft.

Using too few egg yolks can result in a runny creme brulee [2]. As a general rule, use 3 egg yolks per cup of liquid. If you used half and half instead of cream, you may need to adjust the number of egg yolks accordingly [3].

What's the difference between creme brulee and flan? ›

When it comes to crème brûlée and flan, it's mostly the toppings that distinguishes the two, as well as the presentation. The former has that signature crackly sugar crust on top, and the latter has the gooey, soft caramel top.

If you have a good range with a consistent oven and a powerful broiler, you can skip the chef's torch completely! To make this creme brulee, I made its custard base on the stovetop, baked it in the oven in a water bath, and then broiled it to make its caramelized sugar topping.

The main difference between the two is that creme brulee is topped with a layer of sugar that caramelizes under a broiler or torch, resulting in a crunchy, burnt sugar topping. Egg custard does not have this additional layer of sugar, but some recipes call for a dusting of nutmeg or cinnamon.

France, England, and Spain all claim to be the country where crème brûlée had its origin. The first printed recipe for a dessert called crème brûlée is from the 1691 edition of the French cookbook Le Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeois by Francois Massialot, a cook at the Palace of Versailles.

At first glance, it would appear to be the quintessential French dessert. After all its name is French for “burnt cream” but the true origins of crème brûlée are not straightforward. In fact, France, England, and Spain all have claimed to be the country of origin to the crème brûlée.

Crème brûlée is an easy dessert served in individual ramekins with a rich custard base made out of eggs, sugar, heavy cream and vanilla. The topping is made out of a thin layer of granulated sugar which is caramelized with a torch to create textually contrasting hard candy-like shell.

Scalding the cream serves two primary purposes in crème brûlée preparation. It helps infuse the cream with the flavors of any added vanilla beans or extracts and ensures that the cream blends smoothly with the egg yolks, creating the velvety custard texture that crème brûlée is known for.

Undercooked: It's possible that you didn't bake it long enough. Crème brûlée should be set around the edges but still slightly wobbly in the center when you take it out. It will continue to set as it cools. Too much liquid: Make sure you're using the right proportion of cream to egg yolks.