Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Crème brûlée for breakfast


I know that I can't really say that by eating crème brûlée before 9:00 am that I am practicing for my trip to France next week.  Frenchies eat croissants and baguettes for breakfast, n'est-ce pas?  One of my 6th grade girlies treated her classmates to this delightful, delicious dish first period today.  We enjoyed it tremendously.  And if you look at the list of ingredients, you'll see eggs and cream.  Breakfast foods.
Merci, mademoiselle!

According to the girlie and Wikipedia, no one is really sure if crème brûlée originally came from France or Britain.  The earliest reference appears in François Massialot's 1691 cookbook.

Crème Brûlée à la Caroline

6 servings

4 egg yolks
1 egg
1/2 c. sugar + 1 tablespoon for each serving
3 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. Grand Marnier
Boiling water

Preheat oven to 300˚F.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the egg, egg yolks, and 1/2 cup of sugar together on low speed until just combined.  Add the vanilla and Grand Marnier.
While doing this, scald the heavy cream in a pan until it's hot to the touch but not boiled.
Slowly add the heavy cream to the egg-sugar combination.
Pour into ramekins.
Place ramekins in baking pan and pour boiling water into the pan, halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until custard is set when ramekins are gently shaken.
Remove from water bath, cool to room temperature and refrigerate until firm.
To serve, put 1 tablespoon of sugar evenly on top of each ramekin and caramelize with kitchen blowtorch until evenly browned.
Allow to cool for a minute until caramelized sugar hardens.
Eat!!!

Bon appétit et bon petit déjeuner!

1 comment:

MPK said...

Sounds like an excellent way to start the day!