Well, you know you’re getting old when the highlight of your week is getting a new dishwasher AND garbage disposal. It’s been quite a struggle cooking each meal (and dessert) with a broken one. There has been lots of nights when I just called it quits and left a dirty stack in the sink… but today is a new day! And I cannot wait to get in there and dirty up some dishes!
People ask me all the time “What is your favorite dessert to make?” – To me, that’s like asking who your favorite child is. How can I choose? I LOVE making everything. That being said, I can tell you what my favorite dessert is to eat. And that, my friends, is Crème Brulee.
Yes, that silky smooth custard that is exposed only after you break that thin bruleed sugar top layer. That little crunch of the sugar as you eat every spoonful of custard. Heaven, plain and simple.
Although the traditional Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee is always amazing, I like to switch up the flavors and do something more non-traditional and outside the box. Let’s call this a mashup between Red Velvet Cake and Crème Brulee. Red Velvet has a distinct flavor of a little pinch of cocoa powder and buttermilk. That is what gives it the familiar “tang”. So why not try that in a crème brulee? Here we go folks!
Red Velvet Crème Brulee
Yield 4 ramekins
Cream 14 oz.
Buttermilk 2 oz.
Sugar 4 oz.
Yolks 3.75 oz. (6 yolks)
Vanilla ½ pod (1 tsp)
Cocoa powder 2 tsp
Red food color 5 drops or 1 good squeeze
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (162 C). No fan.
Place 4 ramekins into a baking dish with 2” sides.
In a medium size bowl, add yolks. Add ½ cup sugar to yolks, whisk well.
In a medium sauce pot, heat cream and buttermilk together. Once warm, add the cocoa powder, vanilla, and red food color. Whisk lightly until smooth.
Once cream mixture is hot (do not boil), temper cream with yolk mixture. You’re slowly heating up the yolk mixture with the hot cream as to not curdle. Once you’ve tempered in the yolks, divide evenly into ramekins. (Do not return to pot after you’ve tempered in the yolks because you’re not trying to cook the yolks over the stove)
If you’ve got bubbles on the top of the mixture, lightly torch the surfaces to remove.
Fill up the baking dish with hot water, cover loosely with tin foil, and poke some holes in the foil to vent.
Carefully place dish in the middle of your oven.
Bake for 40 minutes. To check whether it is done, jiggle the dish a little and if the center seems loose, bake a little longer, checking every 5 minutes.
Once baked, remove from oven and carefully place each ramekin on a cookie sheet.
Refrigerate for 4+ hours, or overnight. The custard should be served chilled.
When serving, sprinkle about 1 T of sugar over the top of the custard, and shake to even out. Use a blowtorch to brulee each ramekin. Another way to brulee without using a torch is to set your oven on broil, sprinkle the sugar over each custard, and broil for about 3-5 minutes.
Red Velvet Creme Brulee
Ingredients
- 14 oz cream
- 2 oz buttermilk
- 4 oz sugar
- 3.75 oz yolks
- 1/2 vanilla pod
- 2 tsp cocoa powder
- 5 drops red food gel
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (162 C). No fan.
- Place 4 ramekins into a baking dish with 2” sides.
- In a medium size bowl, add yolks. Add ½ cup sugar to yolks, whisk well.
- In a medium sauce pot, heat cream and buttermilk together. Once warm, add the cocoa powder, vanilla, and red food color. Whisk lightly until smooth.
- Once cream mixture is hot (do not boil), temper cream with yolk mixture. You’re slowly heating up the yolk mixture with the hot cream as to not curdle. Once you’ve tempered in the yolks, divide evenly into ramekins. (Do not return to pot after you’ve tempered in the yolks because you’re not trying to cook the yolks over the stove)
- If you’ve got bubbles on the top of the mixture, lightly torch the surfaces to remove.
- Fill up the baking dish with hot water, cover loosely with tin foil, and poke some holes in the foil to vent.
- Carefully place dish in the middle of your oven.
- Bake for 40 minutes. To check whether it is done, jiggle the dish a little and if the center seems loose, bake a little longer, checking every 5 minutes.
- Once baked, remove from oven and carefully place each ramekin on a cookie sheet.
- Refrigerate for 4+ hours, or overnight. The custard should be served chilled.
- When serving, sprinkle about 1 T of sugar over the top of the custard, and shake to even out. Use a blowtorch to brulee each ramekin. Another way to brulee without using a torch is to set your oven on broil, sprinkle the sugar over each custard, and broil for about 3-5 minutes.
