TWD: Creme Brulee

Finally a new Tuesdays with Dorie, this time picked by Mevrouw Cupcake (I'm probably one of the few in the group that can pronounce that correctly :-)) and what a great pick it was. She choose Creme Brulee, one of my all time favorite desserts. You can find the full recipe in Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My House To Yours, or Mari's blog.

I halved the recipe since there are only three people here at the moment. The custard was easy to make and I 'm getting much more comfortable with making those after making a few different ice cream recipes, flan and my own creme brulee recipe a couple of times.

When I make my own recipe I use a vanilla bean that I steep in the warmed up cream and milk, Dorie's recipe uses vanila extract.
I used the vanilla extract that I brought home from Mexico last April, this is the reason my custard is so dark!

(egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract)

Since I have the new oven, I still discover new things, one of those tings was that the lowest temperature I get in it (with the door closed) is 230 F, the recipe called for 200 F. I didn't want to end up with ramekins filled with scrambled eggs, so I decided to go the water bath route.
I cranked the oven up to 300 F, put my ramekins in an oven dish, filled the dish with hot water (halfway up the ramekins) and baked them for 35 minutes.
The end result was tasty! Very different from my own recipe, these were not as rich, if I make mine you just want to hang out on the couch for a few hours and not think about food for a while. These were lighter and are a nice alternative if you still have plans after dinner :-)

Thanks a lot Mari for picking one of my favorites!

Next week: Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake