Tags
Around My French Table, blow torch, broiler creme brulee, caramel, creme brulee, Dorie Greenspan, French Fridays with Dorie, strawberry, strawberry creme brulee
As most of you know, I’m pregnant with baby number two and struggling to eat much of anything these days, so I have taken a bit of a hiatus from the Dorie recipes. Sometimes due to lack of time and energy, and sometimes due to sounding completely unappetizing. My body has decided to pretend that it has the flu in lieu of being nauseous or just tired this trimester, so it has been more exhausting than I could have ever anticipated! Which means? My time in the kitchen has been compromised… ugh. Just in time for the holidays.
So we are feeling better and trying to get back on track. I have taken a long vacation from my bread baking, Dorie and holiday baking and we are going to play catch-up, starting with Dorie’s creme brulee!
Who doesn’t LOVE creme brulee?? I feel inclined to order it if it’s on the menu and have a hard time leaving one behind if say a bakery is making them from scratch and they have them out in a case. Yeah, its a pretty strong Achille’s heel. The best part? The crackly, sweet caramel top!
I love that this particular recipe didn’t require a water bath, since it creates more work and I have an innate fear of boiling or super hot water, and its just a pain to manoeuvre out of the oven. So what’s great is that this recipe really is a quick one to throw together, but requiring some time to set both in the oven and in the fridge. But that just means you can work on dinner or another baking project or watch a movie, take your dog on a walk…. a whole bunch of different things!
The only trouble we had with this recipe came when it was ready to eat! Well, two problems. First, we dont really have a broiler that functions or a blowtorch and second, even though the custard barely jiggled in the oven when it came time to pull it out, it was very loose and pudding-like when we got to eating it. After I saw how loose it was with the first bite, I abandoned the plan to make a hard caramel to pour over the top of these wonderful pots of goodness. What a great idea right? It would require a bit more time to make the caramel hard and allow it to set, but caramel without anything added to it sets fairly quickly and it would provide that tough, crackly, delicious crust you get on a creme brulee.
Luckily, we did remember to get a nice package of strawberries to have on top, and since the consistency was a really rich, creamy vanilla pudding, the strawberries went very well with it! I think when I make this the next time, I will be leaving these in the oven until they don’t jiggle to ensure that they will set, once cooled. Oh and I should add, we chose not to put jam on the bottom, since both the husband unit and I prefer fresh fruit – and then so does Mei, who throws a small fit if she sees that we are buying fruit and dont give her a bite in the store, hehehe! 
To see how the other Doristas fared, click here. If you would like to join French Fridays with Dorie, grab a copy of Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table and start cooking along!
