Creme Brulee

We both love creme brulee, and so we had to try this recipe when we came across it here.

It wasn’t as good as ordinary creme brulee, but we thought it was a reasonable substitute. Ours turned out a bit on the runny side (they didn’t set properly on the bottom even after being refrigerated overnight), but this may have been due to our New Zealand cream being runnier than the heavy cream referred to in the original recipe. Or it could have been because I tried making less than half of the original recipe and got the ratios a bit wrong. Or it could have been because I only included egg yolks in the recipe (the original recipe refers to both egg yolks and whole eggs but isn’t clear about whether both are needed).

If anyone has any thoughts on what went wrong, or has another creme brulee recipe, I’d love to hear from you! We didn’t attempt to “burn” any sugar substitute on top (which is one of the best bits in ordinary creme brulee), but you could try this if you have a hand torch.

Ingredients:

• 480 ml (16 fluid oz) of heavy cream
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1.5 Tbsp of Splenda (adjust to taste)
• 2-3 Tbsp of vanilla extract (or 1 whole vanilla bean)

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 165 C (325 F).
2. Separate 4 eggs into yolks and whites, and add the yolks into a bowl. The whites are not used in this recipe but you might be able to use them in something else.
3. Add the Splenda to the bowl, and whisk together.
4. Heat the cream in a saucepan and while it is heating scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add in the bean itself if you are a using a whole vanilla bean rather than vanilla extract.
5. Remove the cream from the heat as soon as it starts to boil, and add the vanilla extract if you are using this.
6. SLOWLY pour the scalded cream into the yolk mixture a little at a time, CONSTANTLY whisking fast.
7. Pour the mixture into 6 ramekins. Put the ramekins into a tray or pan and half fill the tray or pan with water. Cover the pan or try tightly with tinfoil. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the ramekins feel set when you gently jiggle them.
8. Take the ramekins out of the pan and leave to cool down before refrigerating overnight.

Nutritional Info: