crème brûlée

People get impressed because of the French name, but this dessert is surprisingly easy. Also, you don’t even need a blowtorch!

Ingredients

• 300ml double cream
• 100ml milk
• 1 vanilla pod (or 2 tsp vanilla bean paste, but the pod really makes a difference since it’s the main flavour)
• 3 egg yolks
• 4 tsp granulated sugar
• 4 tsp caster sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 150ºC. Add the cream and milk to a saucepan. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod by splitting it in half and scraping them out using the back of a knife. Add them to the saucepan along with the pod. Heat on low while stirring to make sure the cream doesn’t burn.
2. While the cream is heating, add the egg yolks and granulated sugar into a medium sized bowl and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Once the cream is steaming hot (do not boil it), slowly add it to the egg yolks while whisking constantly, a few spoons at a time.
4. Pour custard into small ramekins, leaving at least 1/2 a centimetre space from the rim.
5. Place ramekins into a tray and fill the tray with hot water. Put the tray in the oven for about 20 mins, or until the custard is mostly set but still wobbles in the middle when pushed.
6. Carefully remove ramekins from tray and allow to cool to room temperature before placing in the fridge to cool further.
7. When ready to serve, sprinkle about a teaspoon of caster sugar on top of the custard. If you have one, you can now use a blowtorch to caramelise the sugar. If not, then take an old metal spoon and bend it so that the handle is at 90º to the body. Heat it over a high flame until it’s very very hot, and press it lightly onto the sugar. Repeat until all of the sugar is caramelised, wiping the spoon between heatings.