Most creme brulee recipes call for 2 cups of cream, are baked in small ramekins, and serve four people. Well I don’t have small ramekins, and since I don’t eat creme brulee very often, I want to eat me some pudding!
I double the usual recipe and bake it in 6, 18oz ramekins, which leaves some room to top them with berries if you’re so inclined. But if you’re a lightweight, just cut the recipe in half and bake in four smaller ramekins. But why????
4 cups cream (or at least 1/2 and 1/2)
2 vanilla beans (or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)
1/4 tsp salt
10 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar (plus more for the top)
Split the vanilla bean in half and scrape the inside, then add the scrapings and the entire pod to the cream. Heat the cream until just hot, but not boiling, then remove from the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes to cool down. Remove the bean pods. If using vanilla extract, just add to the cream and heat until it’s warm, not really hot.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until light colored. Beat in about 1/4 of the milk to temper the eggs, then beat in the rest of the eggs. I like to use an immersion blender for this.
Divide the mixture between the ramekins. Set the ramekins in a roasting pan, or a large baking dish. Pour hot, but not boiling water into the pan until it’s half way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes or until just set in the center.
Remove from the water bath and let cool to room temp on the counter, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.
To serve, gently blot the tops with a paper towel if moisture has accumulated. Sprinkle a generous teaspoon of sugar on top, and sort of tap and shake it around until evenly spread. Heat the sugar with a torch until the sugar is melted and golden brown. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.
If you don’t have a torch, you can stick the ramekins under the broiler to melt the sugar. To keep from warming up the pudding, first put the ramekins in an ice water bath. Just like you did to cook them, but this time with ice water instead of hot.