I Heart Dessert

As promised, here are the recipes for the Vanilla Bean and Bananas Foster Creme Brulee I made from my previous post. I adapted both versions of creme brulee from one of Barefoot Contessa’s recipes. They both essentially have the same creme brulee base, but I spiced things up a little and tried to get a little bit more creative. After all this was a dessert challenge I was competing in.

Since this was my first time making creme brulee, I decided to buy a creme brulee torch set from Bed Bath & Beyond. For $19.99, you get a set of 4 ramekins and a creme brulee torch (warning: the torch does not come with butane, so you have to buy that separately at another store like your local grocery or hardware store). I really liked the set of ramekins the kit came with; they are not too deep and are the perfect size  for individual servings.

As far as the whole baking process, it was fairly easy and not time consuming at all. All I had to do was mix the ingredients and pop it in the oven. The only thing that took a little bit of time was cooling the creme brulee for a couple hours in the fridge. The best part was of course the torching. I made sure to put plenty of sugar(I like having a thick layer caramelized sugar on top) and torched away. Another thing to note is that if you do end up buying the creme brulee kit, the mini torch takes a bit longer to caramelize the sugar. So, don’t fret, the torch will do its job, but just don’t expect to have the creme brulee caramelized in 5 seconds so plan accordingly.

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee
(adapted from Barefoot Contessa’s recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 extra-large egg
• 4 extra-large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for each serving
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean pod, split and scraped

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

2) In the bowl, mix the egg, egg yolks, and 1/2 cup of the sugar together until combined. Meanwhile, scald the cream in
a saucepan until it’s very hot to the touch but not boiled.You should see tiny bubbles coming up on the sides of the
pan which will mean its ready.

3)  Very slowly stir in the cream into the egg mixture. Add the vanilla beans and pour into ramekins until almost full.

4) Place the ramekins in a baking dish and pour boiling water into the dish until it comes about halfway up the sides of
the ramekins. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the custards are set when gently shaken. Remove the custards from
the water bath, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until firm.

5) To serve, spread 2 tablespoons of sugar evenly on the top of each ramekin and heat with a kitchen blowtorch until
the sugar carmelizes evenly. Allow to sit at room temperature for a minute until the caramelized sugar hardens.

Bananas Foster Creme Brulee
(adapted from Barefoot Contessa’s recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 extra-large egg
• 4 extra-large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoons for each serving
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 medium sized bananas
• 1 tsp. cinnamon for each serving
• 1 Tbsp. light brown sugar for each serving

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

2) In the bowl, mix the egg, egg yolks, and 1/2 cup of the sugar together until combined. Meanwhile, scald the cream in
a saucepan until it’s very hot to the touch but not boiled.You should see tiny bubbles coming up on the sides of the
pan which will mean its ready.

3)  Very slowly stir in the cream into the egg mixture. Add the vanilla extract and pour into ramekins until almost full.

4) Place the ramekins in a baking dish and pour boiling water into the dish until it comes about halfway up the sides of
the ramekins. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the custards are set when gently shaken. Remove the custards from
the water bath, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until firm.

5) Slice bananas thinly and cover the ramekins in a scalloped fashion. Make sure to overlap each row as you go, so it
covers the creme brulee well. Sprinkle cinnamon on top of the bananas.

6) To serve, spread 1 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of light brown sugar evenly on the top of each ramekin and
heat with a kitchen blowtorch until the sugar caramelizes evenly. Allow to sit at room temperature for a minute until
the caramelized sugar hardens.

Note: The bananas fosters creme brulee will caramelize faster and may burn easily due to the brown sugar, so be careful!