Crème Brulee - Taste in its Fullest (Philip Geyer)

Cr?me brulee is also famous by other names such as burnt cream, crema catalana and trinity cream. This dessert item usually has a custard base and a rich caramel layer which occupies the topmost portion. Here are some of the varieties of cr?me brulee.
Vanilla creme brulee

Ingredients

* Heavy cream 1 quart
* Vanilla bean - split, scraped 1
* Vanilla sugar 1 cup
* Egg yolks 6 large ones
* Hot water 2 quarts
* Vanilla sugar ? cup

Directions to follow

The first step is to preheat your oven at the temperature of 325 degrees F. Take a medium-sized sauce pan and introduce the vanilla bean, its pulp and the cream into it and heat it under average temperature until it is properly boiled. Take it out of the heat and wrap it nicely. Let stand for about 15 minutes. Take the vanilla bean out of the mixture and keep it on the side for other uses. After that, whip nicely the ingredients such as sugar and egg yolks inside the medium-sized bowl until the colour is slighly lightened. Introduce cream in a gradual manner and stir it well. Pour the mixture out into the ramekins and place them in the roasting pan. Into the pan add hot water. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the mixture is properly set. Take the ramekins out of the pan and keep them inside the refrigerator for the minimum of 2 hours. Cool the dessert for 3 days if you can afford to do so. Take it out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before you start browning the sugar. Split up the remaining vanilla sugar (? cup) among the 6 ramekins and disperse it evenly on the top. Melt down the sugar so as to make a crispy crust. Let your cr?me brulee stand for 5 minutes. When it is set, serve it.

Pumpkin cr?me brulee

Ingredients
- Heavy cream 1 ? cups
- Whole milk ? cup
- Cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon
- Nutmeg 2 pinches
- Ginger 1 pinch
- Ground cloves 1 pinch
- Egg yolks 4
- Granulated sugar ? cup
- Canned pumpkin puree ? cup
- Coarse sugar or raw sugar 1/3 cup

Instructions to follow

Preheat the oven up to the temperature of 300 degrees F. Take a medium-sized sauce pan and add into it the ingredients like the cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Heat it under average temperature until it is properly boiled. Stir it at regular intervals. Turn the heat off and keep it on the side for 15 minutes. Then, inside a large bowl whip nicely the combination of egg yolks and granulated sugar. Slowly introduce the hot cream mixture. Do not forget to whip nicely when you add the hot cream mixture. Add the pumpkin puree and continue whipping it. Decant the mixture into the ramekins and set it over a hot water bath. Keep it in the center of the oven and bake it for 30-40 minutes until it is properly set. See to it that the custard wobbles slightly when you shake the pan. Get rid of the hot water bath and allow it to cool for 15 minutes. Wrap each ramekin using a tight plastic wrapper.

Make sure that the plastic wrapper does not make any contact with the custard. Keep it inside the refrigerator for the whole day or at least for 2 hours. When it is set, take a broiler and preheat it. Take the cover out of the refrigerated custards. Spread the leftover sugar over the custards. Then, keep the ramekins on the baking sheet and heat them for 1-2 minutes until the sugar melts completely and assumes a brown color. Allow it to cool for 2-3 minutes and then serve it.

If you liked this creme brulee recipe, you can see many more great ones at one of the best Danish websites for the ladies - Femina.