When I was backpacking through Europe with my friend Stephanie, our last stop of the trip was Paris. In Paris, we ate all kinds of yummy food and made sure that our last meal there would be a classy dinner (which was much needed after a month of sticking to a backpacking budget). That night, I had the best crème brûlée I have ever had.
Whenever I think back on that trip, I always crave that crème brûlée. To satisfy my cravings, I have tried countless recipes to try to mimic the one I had in Paris. Since then, I’ve dialed the science down to two important factors: using the right ramekins and using real vanilla extract (not the artificial stuff).
Baking Tips for Successful Crème Brûlée
Crème brûlée is one of my favourite desserts to make because it’s quick, easy, and looks impressive. Crème brûlée means burnt cream, and is literally just a custard with a coating of hard caramelized sugar on top. You first need to bake the custard, let it set/cool then just before serving you sprinkle a layer of sugar on top and melt it under extreme heat. I bought a blowtorch for my crème brûlée (which is always fun and surprisingly inexpensive) but you really don’t need one! Instead, you can dust sugar over the top and caramelize it under the broiler in the oven (see below note on caramelizing the tops).
The cook time for the crème brûlée varies based on the type of ramekin you use. Any small oven safe bowl will work in place of a ramekin, and in a pinch I have used the smallest size of my round, glass food storage containers in place of one. This recipe will fill 4-5 ramekins depending on the size and filled 5 of my ramekins, which are shallow 1 x 5 inch bowls.
In Paris, they served crème brûlée in a shallow yet wide dish, and I think that’s the best way to serve it. I like these dishes because you get some caramelized sugar each bite. However, more standard ramekins (like a 3 x 4 inch) also work well!
Cooking the crème brûlée involves putting the ramekins into a large rectangular dish and baking them in a water bath. A water bath just means that you’re going to place the filled ramekins in a deep pan and fill it up with some water until it reaches about halfway up the sides of your ramekin. This adds moisture to the oven.
My water bath 
Set custards
The overall active time for crème brûlée is about 20 minutes. However, once they are done baking you must cool them for at least 4 hours before serving to let them set completely. Bake them until they are no longer liquid and the edges are set, but the center is still jiggly.
Last note is this: if you don’t have real vanilla extract, I would go out and get some for this recipe. It’s not life or death if you don’t have it, but it makes all the difference. I’m not sure about other places, but the price of pure vanilla extract in Vancouver has shot up to crazy amounts the past few years. So for this recipe, I went out and invested in a small bottle of the real stuff which I use mainly for crème brûlée (I’m addicted).
Tempering the Egg Yolks
The process for crème brûlée is very simple. In order to make the custard base, you heat up whipping cream and incorporate it into an egg yolk and sugar mixture. But be careful! The hot liquid can cook the egg yolk and leave you with a gross scrambled egg mixture that is un-saveable (not a real word, I know).
To avoid this, you need to do something called “tempering” your egg mixture. This process is really easy and basically just means that you need to slowly raise the temperature of the egg yolks. To do this, just have your egg yolk mixture already mixed up and ready to go with a whisk nearby. When the heavy cream is ready, slowly pour a little bit (about a 1/4 cup, just eyeball it) into the egg yolk/sugar mixture while whisking it to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Keep doing this until all of the cream is incorporated.
Caramelizing the Top
As I mentioned above, you don’t need a blowtorch to create the hardened caramelized top. All you need to do is sprinkle an even coating of sugar on top of the set custards and stick them in the broiler using the highest position of your oven rack. Broil them for about 5 minutes or until the sugar has completely melted. Once they’re done in the broiler, let them rest at least 5 minutes before serving to ensure the sugar has cooled and hardened.
Using the broiler method is convenient but it will also warm your custards. I like a room temperature custard (that doesn’t sound so appetizing but I swear it’s good) so I would recommend waiting 30-40 minutes before serving them to bring down the temperature even more.
Here’s the recipe!
Crème Brûlée
Equipment
- 5 small ramekins or oven safe dishes
- A rectangular deep dish (for the water bath)
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 5 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp sugar for caramelizing the tops
- hot water for water bath
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325° F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm up the heavy cream. Remove from heat just before it starts to boil.
- While whisking the egg yolk mixture, slowly add about 1/4 cup of heavy cream to the mixture (see note on tempering eggs). Once the cream is incorporated, keep adding the remaining cream bit by bit while constantly whisking, until everything is combined.
- Place the ramekins into a large baking pan. If the ramekins don't fit into the same baking pan, you can use multiple small baking pans instead. Evenly distribute the custard mixture into the five ramekins. Slowly add about 1/2 of hot water to the pan so that it comes about half way up the sides of the ramekins.
- Using oven mitts, carefully transfer the pan into the oven, placing it on the middle oven rack. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until the edges are set and the centre is still jiggly but no longer liquid (start monitoring them at the 25 minute mark).
- Once the custards are done cooking, remove from the water bath and set them on a cooling rack to cool down. Once they are cooled to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge to set for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight.
Caramelizing the Tops
- Once the custards are set, remove them from the fridge and pat the tops dry with some paper towel.
- Set the oven to the broil setting and arrange an oven rack in the highest position.
- Using the remaining sugar, evenly coat each custard with a layer of granulated sugar. Don't make this layer too thick but also make sure all of the custard is completely covered (exposed custard will separate under the broiler).
- Place the sugar coated custards onto a baking sheet and place them under the broiler, on the highest positioned oven rack. Broil for about 5-8 minutes or until the sugar completely melts together. Immediately remove from the oven.
- Cool the custards until the melted sugar hardens and the custards cool. The sugar will harden after about five minutes, but the custards will take longer to return to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
- Custards can be made beforehand and will keep for two days in the fridge, but the caramelized sugar tops need to be done the day they are served.
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