I first created this recipe in 2008 for my original blog, and had been meaning to repost it on one of my blogs but hadn’t gotten around to it. Then a friend of mine Treathyl asked me to repost it, so here it is complete with a new photograph taken tonight. I did lessen the castor sugar from 90g down to 75grams because white chocolate is quite sweet, to begin with. That is also the reason I made the sour cherries to contrast the sweetness.

The name Crème Brulee means “burnt cream”; is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hard caramel, created by burning sugar under a grill, or with a blowtorch. The exact origins of this dish are unclear, though the earliest known reference to it is in François Massialot’s 1691 cookbook.

Ingredients for 6 portions
8 egg yokes
250 ml (1/2 pint) double cream
250 ml (1/2 pint) milk
1 vanilla pod
75 grams (3.5oz) Castor sugar
100 g (4oz) White chocolate
1-litre Vanilla Bean Ice cream
1-2 Crunchie bars

Method

1. Preheat oven to 120 C gas mark 1/2
2. Grate the white chocolate using the largest part of the grater and divide between the 6 ramekins.
3. Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the vanilla seeds, then put the seeds and the pod into a non-stick saucepan. Add the cream, milk, and bring to a simmer then turn off heat.
4. In a bowl combine the egg yolks and sugar and whisk well until they turn a pale straw colour.
5. Pour the cream mixture into the egg yokes and whisk well. Transfer the mix into a clean non-stick saucepan and return to the stove on a medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon making sure your spoon is touching the bottom of the saucepan.
6. Cook gently until the Crème Brulee mix starts to coat the back of your spoon, remove from the heat immediately and strain through a fine-mesh sieve.
7. Ladle the Brulee mix into each ramekin.
8. Boil a kettle and pour enough water around the ramekins to cover 3/4 of the height.
9. Cook the Crème Brulee on the middle shelf for 40 minutes until set.
10. Carefully remove the ramekins from the roasting tray and allow to cool down at room temperature.  Move to the fridge and allow to cool for at least 2 hours.
11. Sprinkle the Crème Brulee’s with castor sugar and melt with the gas gun, moving the flame around to melt the sugar evenly and quickly.

Sour Cherries
400g whole cherries
1 large lemon
4 Tblsp sour cherry jam
1 level dessertspoon cornflour
2 Tbs cold water
Splash of Gin (optional)

1. Wash and stone the cherries and reserve.
2. Peel the lemon, thinly and then combine with the Jam and Gin into a non-stick saucepan.
3. Squeeze the lemon into a bowl so you can remove the pips.
4. Add the lemon juice into the jam mixture and simmer on a low heat.
5. Mix the cold water with the cornflour and stir the mixture into the jam and continue to stir whilst turning the heat down to low as it thickens up
6. Remove from the heat and take out the lemon  peel then gently stir the cherries and let the flavours combine.

To Serve

Use a sharp knife to cut the Crunchie into at least 12 pieces. Place the Crème Brulee’s onto cold plates then scoop neatly vanilla ice cream and sprinkle the chopped Crunchie on top and enjoy.Serve the sour cherries separately.

Chef’s Tips
Caramelising the tops of the Crème Brulee’s is a lot easier if you have a gas gun which you can buy from most hardware stores these days. The ramekins I use are 80mm (3.25 inch in diameter and fits the recipe perfectly. if yours are smaller size then might need an extra ramekin.

*And if you are feeling like you want to match my presentation you can take strips of acetate to create edible chocolate collars to fill with ice cream. Go here to see how I do it.

Don’t forget to visit my other blogs
Easy & Cheap Student Recipes-A great resource if you are a student or just learning how to cook.
Old Blog Posts– A growing archive of posts from my original food blog, which had 20,922,573 page views from its beginning in February 2006 until December 2015.

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