Tuesdays with Dorie: Crème Brulée

[recipe here]

Oh, how I have been looking forward to this day! Delicious, crispy caramel shell, atop a sea of creamy goodness. Darling crème brulée, you are possibly the best non-chocolate dessert around. Mari, I thank you profusely for picking it for this week's TWD challenge :)



Honestly, I had no idea that making crème brulée would be so easy! The only really hard thing about it was that looong wait for the custards to chill before torching 'em. Three hours at least?! Intolerable. ;)



Confession: I didn't have any milk around... so I used all cream. (I know, who has cream but not milk?? Weirdo.) I didn't think it would really hurt anything (except maybe my arteries), so I went ahead with it.



My custard did take a much longer time to set up in the oven than the recipe said it would. I thought it was the lack of milk, but I read that a bunch of other bakers had the same issue. Anyway, it still ended up being yumtious!



I also cut the recipe down to 1/3 of the original, which turned out to be the exact right amount for four of these adorable, tiny ramekins I found at Whole Foods.



As some of you know, I had some issues getting my spankin' new blowtorch to work (btw, thanks again to Sula for the awesome gift!!) My words of advice for new blowtorch owners are:

1. Do not attempt to fill it with the butane canister UPRIGHT. (Worst diagram ever!) They both need to be upside down, or the torch will just fill with air.
2. When you are "bleeding" something, the thing you want to be bleeding is the AIR out of the TORCH.
3. If it is not working, invest in some compressed air, and use it liberally to blast all surfaces (and innards) of the torch.
4. Check out this website (click the Maintenance button and scroll down to Maintenance Guide) for more troubleshooting tips.

Anyway, I eventually got it working :)



The stop motion video is back! I thought it would be cool to relive the caramelization :)



And here is my favorite part:



MMM.

Love it.

Thanks again for the pick, Mari. You rule! :) The recipe is over at Mari's blog, Mevrouw Cupcake. Also, don't forget to check out all of the other wonderful bakers at TWD! Note that the lovely ladies in charge are capping the group at the end of October, so it's now or never if you are thinking of joining us! :)