This Le Cirque Basic Crème Brûlée recipe was the primary I ever made and no different model has ever surpassed it! Martha Stewart featured this Crème Brûlée Recipe on one in all her reveals almost 20 years in the past. I had by no means even tasted crème brûlée, however it turned out to be a treasured household dessert!
I used my broiler to brulee the coarse sugar topping that reworked this vanilla custard into a unprecedented after-dinner deal with. Cracking a spoon by means of the hardened sugar crust into the silky clean custard revealed the 2 quintessential parts making this Straightforward Creme Brulee Recipe so well-known.


Why You Should Make
Also called Burnt Cream or Trinity Cream, crème brûlée is a wealthy, creamy custard topped with a skinny, crisp layer of caramelized sugar.
- Since I began making this Basic Crème Brûlée at house, Invoice won’t order it from a restaurant menu. In line with him, they all the time fall quick.
- The recipe is from New York Metropolis’s legendary restaurant, Le Cirque.
- That is really the quintessential crème brûlée recipe.


Ingredient Notes
- Kitchen Staples – Granulated Sugar (common white sugar)
- Heavy Cream – 36% butterfat
- Vanilla Bean – Slit in half lengthwise, scrape out seeds, and add each seeds and pod to the cream
- Egg Yolks – Eggs separate greatest when chilly. See beneath for recipes that use solely egg whites.
- Salt – Salt enhances desserts simply because it enhances savory recipes. It’s not sufficient to make the dessert salty, however it will probably style flat in the event you omit it. Use desk salt as a substitute of kosher salt so it dissolves extra simply.
- Turbinado Sugar – Also called sugar within the uncooked. A rough, blonde-colored sugar with a fragile molasses taste. Use a handheld kitchen torch or your broiler to soften the sugar topping on every creme brulee. To make use of your broiler, preserve the door barely ajar when you’re caramelizing the sugar so you may control the method. The purpose is to soften the sugar, flip it a golden brown, however not burn it.
How you can Make Creme Brulee














Skilled Ideas:
When you discover ways to make creme brulee, will probably be a frequent flyer for dessert. It’s good for firm, holidays, or everytime you wish to deal with your loved ones to a superb dessert. Listed here are some suggestions for find out how to make creme brulee.
- PRO-Tip: When including the yolks to the recent cream, pour very slowly and whisk continually. It will reduce having bits of cooked egg in your batter.
- PRO-Tip: For the smoothest outcomes, pour the batter by means of a sieve to take away any bits of egg that occur to prepare dinner/coagulate when combined with the recent cream.
- PRO-Tip: Should you don’t pour slowly and whisk continually, chances are you’ll get loads of coagulated egg bits in your combination. If that occurs, your creme brulee might not have sufficient egg within the custard to set correctly. So don’t rush this step.
- Chill for not less than 2 hours earlier than serving.
- Buy sugar within the uncooked, also called turbinado sugar, to make the sugar topping.
- Use a mini torch or broiler to soften and brown the sugar. Should you use the broiler, place the ramekins instantly underneath the weather and watch very fastidiously in order that they don’t burn. The purpose is to soften the sugar so it turns golden brown.
- PRO-Tip: If including salt to the combination sounds odd, it accentuates the flavors and prevents desserts from tasting flat.


Crème Brûlée Tools
- I lastly bought some (all affiliate hyperlinks) flat oval ramekins, however the spherical, deeper model works tremendous, too. You’ll simply have so as to add extra baking time to make sure the custard is ready. There shall be a slight jiggle within the center however set across the perimeter when they’re totally baked.
- Creme brulee is baked in a bain marie, which is the French time period for a water bathtub. Setting the unbaked custards right into a pan of scorching water to bake them helps stabilize the baking temperature, making for the creamiest outcomes. The water ought to come midway up the perimeters of your dishes. You do not need any water to slosh into the dishes. I exploit my roasting pan.
- You’ll additionally want a culinary torch or broiler. See beneath for extra particulars.
Straining the Custard
- The custard must be strained earlier than pouring it into the ramekins. Even in the event you very fastidiously and slowly add the recent cream to the eggs whereas continually whisking, some small bits of egg can prepare dinner. You need to pressure these out so you will have the silkiest, creamy custard.
- Notice: If in case you have loads of cooked egg bits, it means you added the eggs too rapidly and/or didn’t whisk continually whereas drizzling them into the recent cream. If this occurs, there won’t be sufficient egg in your custard to permit them to solidify. You’ll have to begin over. Don’t ask how I do know this!
- PRO-Tip: I wish to pressure my custard right into a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup with a spout. It makes it tremendous straightforward to pour the combination into your ramekins.
Caramelizing the Sugar Topping
- In the case of caramelizing your sugar topping, you will have choices there as properly. I exploit turbinado, or sugar within the uncooked, however you may also use brown sugar or granulated sugar. Some of us add a skinny layer of sugar, torch, after which repeat. Typically, I simply go for it as soon as.
- You need to use your broiler to soften the sugar, which was once my most popular technique, simply watch fastidiously and take away them when the sugar topping begins effervescent. I exploit a culinary mini-torch designed for the kitchen, however you may also use a bigger welding torch as a substitute in the event you’re comfy utilizing one.
Serving Your Crème Brûlée
- Be certain that to sit back your creme brulee earlier than torching so the custard doesn’t completely liquefy from the warmth. Not that anybody has ever complained when that’s occurred round right here!
- Although this basic creme brulee is beautiful served ungarnished, for firm, I’ll add a few recent raspberries or sliced strawberries together with a sprig of to jazz up the presentation.
- I’ve additionally up to date this recipe after studying Jenni Area’s put up on salting desserts. She’s an completed pastry chef and is aware of her stuff; only a pinch of salt will make a world of distinction to the style of this vanilla bean custard. If in case you have by no means made a simple crème brûlée recipe earlier than, contemplate it for a Valentine’s Day dessert for the one (or ones) you’re keen on.
- You can also make the custards forward of time. I like torching the sugar topping proper earlier than serving.


After making this creme brulee recipe, you’ll be left with 7 egg whites. Don’t toss them, however as a substitute save them for one in all these recipes that includes leftover egg whites.
Regularly Requested Questions
As talked about above this French phrase interprets to Burnt Cream. The accent marks could also be complicated when attempting to determine find out how to say the identify of this dessert. It’s pronounced krehm-broo-LAY.
Sure, that is what makes creme brulee a wonderful recipe for entertaining. PRO-Tip: The custards could be saved within the fridge for as much as 3 days. Simply cowl them with plastic wrap. Sprinkle with sugar and torch earlier than serving.
PRO-Tip: Utilizing a Creme Brulee Torch or Kitchen Torch is the popular technique for melting the sugar on prime of your custards. You’ll have extra management over melting the sugar.
However in a pinch, the broiler will work. Place the dishes of Crème Brûlée on a sheet pan and broil about 4 inches from the aspect. Watch them fastidiously so your sugar doesn’t burn. It’s possible you’ll have to line up your ramekins in order that they’re instantly beneath a warmth supply.
Variations of crème brûlée could be traced again to fifteenth century England and a Spanish model dates again to Medieval occasions. It made a resurgence within the US when Le Cirque featured it on their menu within the Nineteen Eighties.
The bottom is a clean, silky, wealthy vanilla custard topped with a layer of brittle, caramelized sugar. The contrasting textures are a part of what makes this such a memorable, beautiful dessert.
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Components
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean, slit in half lengthwise and seeds scraped
- ¾ cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 7 massive egg yolks
- Turbinado sugar (sugar within the uncooked)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 300º.
- In a saucepan, warmth cream, vanilla pod, vanilla seeds, sugar, and salt over medium warmth, sometimes stirring, until bubbles kind across the perimeter. Don’t deliver it to a boil. Take away from warmth.
- Whisk eggs in a big glass measuring cup (or bowl). Mood the yolks by including a small quantity of scorching cream to the yolks whereas whisking. Repeat a couple of extra occasions, ensuring so as to add the cream combination very slowly and to maintain whisking so the yolks don’t prepare dinner.
- Pour tempered yolks again into the pan and whisk until clean. Pressure the combination into a big measuring cup (chances are you’ll reuse the cup utilized for tempering) to take away the vanilla pod, seeds, and any bits of cooked yolk.
- Place 9 8-ounce ramekins in a roasting pan. Fill the ramekins to the highest with custard. Rigorously place the pan within the oven, and pour sufficient scorching water into the roasting pan to come back midway up the ramekins. Bake till custard is ready and jiggles barely when shaken, about 50 minutes.
- Take away from the water bathtub and let cool for a half hour or so. Chill for not less than 2 hours and as much as 3 days. Earlier than serving, sprinkle with turbinado sugar and use a kitchen torch to caramelize. In a pinch, you may also place it underneath the broiler (about 4 inches from the aspect) and broil till the sugar is melted. Watch VERY fastidiously.
- Place every on a small plate to serve.
- I used shallow ramekins and baked them for about 40 minutes.
Notes
Separate your eggs after they’re chilly because the yolk is much less prone to break.
Beneficial Merchandise
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Diet Info:
Yield:
9
Serving Measurement:
1 creme brulee
Quantity Per Serving:
Energy: 488Complete Fats: 42gSaturated Fats: 26gTrans Fats: 1gUnsaturated Fats: 14gLdl cholesterol: 285mgSodium: 100mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 0gSugar: 20gProtein: 8g