I love Creme Brulee, is such a rich dessert that has a soft velvety custard with a nice crack sound as you hit the sugar layer on top. But what happens when you dont have the torch to caramelized the sugar and small ramekins for that perfect single size serve.
Well, today I wanted to test out this recipe but on a large pan while using no torch (what a challenge since this could go wrong). Can you make a Creme Brulee on a regular size pan? well, one of the problems is the cooking time, the other problem is how you serve it on each plate.
Making Creme Brulee is not hard or complicated to do, in my case is so similar to making flan so I can see when the Brulee is cooked specially when using a large ceramic pan.
Another great reason to make Creme Brulee is you dont need many ingredients and if you have some egg yolks put to the side from a previous recipe, this will be a great recipe to use those yolks.
What comes to mind when you think of Creme Brulee? Anytime I see this dessert in a menu is one I usually get, specially in a cruise. I remember when our kids were small and they would ask what can I recommend, right away I knew Creme Brulee would be the one they will enjoy. From the texture to the fun part of hitting the top layer.
Now that they are older I smile when I see them ordering Creme Brulee, as recent as our last cruise. Making this dish surely brings back so many great memories, sometimes I wish I could go back and spend more time with my kids.. I do miss those times.
Well, back to the recipe.. For a much easier way of making it, is key to have the items you need and follow the steps. These steps has helped me for making it a lot easier even without the must have items (like ramekins and torch)
You only need 5 ingredients
- 4 Egg Yolks
- 1/2 Cup Sugar (extra 2-3 tbsp)
- 2 Cups Heavy Cream
- 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- a pinch of salt (not much)
First – Oven & Bath Pan
- The first thing I do is preheat my oven to 320 (I place a square baking pan) the pan is bigger then the round pan I’m using to add the custard.
- Add water half way filled and place in the oven.
Second – Whisk Yolk & Sugar
- In a bowl add the yolks & sugar, whisk until it gets lighter
- put to the side
Third – Simmer Heavy Cream
- Place Heavy Cream in a pan and on medium heat, let it come to a simmer
- add pinch of salt (very minimum amount)
- Remove from Heat, add Vanilla Extract, mix well
Fourth – Whisk
- Take 1/2 cup of the Heavy Cream, start to whisk the yolk & sugar mixture and slowly add Heavy cream but continue whisking.
- Whisk well, this also help to cool the temperature, add the yolk mixture to the remaining heavy cream, continue whisking.
Fifth – Fill & Cook
- Add mixture into regular pan, add on top of water bath and leave in oven to cook
- Cook for about 45 – 55 min (it all depends on the size of the pan) you can tell when you move the pan and the center wiggles a bit like jello.
Fifth – Cool & Topping
- Once Done remove carefully from water bath, let stand and place in refrigerator for about 3 hours.
- When ready to enjoy add about 2 – 3 tbsp of sugar enough to have an even layer on top.
- Broil on low (this took a few minutes to get a nice color and enough to get that crack effect)
- I also tried Broil on high and it does get dark quickly (if trying this technique) keep an eye on it.
Enjoy..
This such an easy to follow recipe!! And delicious. Thank you!
Your welcome
I usually use a ceramic dish. Recently I tried the recipe with a ramekin and a different ceramic small dish and they baked differently. I notice one took much longer to cook. I hope this helps.