Creme Brulee: the concoction behind the custard

De-mystifying crème brulee is something everyone always asks me to do when it comes to dessert. This delicacy has always been placed on a pedestal above uber complicated cakes and creams. Once I heard that you can judge a restaurant from its crème brulee. I actually hear questions regarding the complicity of making this dessert so often, that I decided to turn to my trusted source on world knowledge; Wikipedia.com. My question was, "why is there such a myth behind the crème brulee?" The answer that came through made total sense;

"It is first attested in France, in Massialot's cookbook, in 1691. The French name was used in the English translation of this book, but in the early 18th century, it was called 'burnt cream' in English.

In Britain, it is associated with Trinity College, Cambridge where it is called 'caramel cream' and where "the college crest was impressed on top of the cream with a branding iron". It was introduced to Trinity College in 1879, though some cookbooks claim a much older origin. Indeed, an increasing number of culinary historians now maintain that Massiolot's cookbook is a nineteenth century forgery and the dessert was invented in Trinity College, Cambridge towards the beginning of the eighteenth century."

Of course! This master piece should never be demeaned by labeling it a dessert and therefore lowering it to the standards of its insignificant culinary colleagues; the carrot cake, or the seven layer fudge pie. According to Wikipedia, it is regal, worthy of the Trinity College brand. But... however you want to treat this royal dessert; it may not be as easy to create as berries and cream - it definitely is not as hard as you think it is.

Ingredients

6 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar (white sugar)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (sometimes these are hard to find - but they are available in most major grocery stores. If you absolutely can't find it - don't worry, your crème brulee is going to be delicious even without the vanilla.)
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

6 tsp. granulated sugar (if you want to add a little touch of chic with your crème burlee - you can use brown sugar as well.)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F (180 degrees C)

2. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a medium bowl, make sure they're blended. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean. Gradually whisk the cream into the sugar mixture.

3. Divide your raw creme brulee into roughly 6 3/4 c. custard dishes (ramekins). Arrange them in a baking pan large enough to give room to each dish so they are not touching. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the dishes. *

4. Bake your custards for about 35-40 minutes; or until they are set. If you over bake them, they'll be rubbery. You want them to giggle like jello when you take them out of the oven. Remove the custard cups from the pan with the hot water and allow them to cool before you place them in the refrigerator to chill over night.

5. There are two ways of doing this, the fun way - and the safe way. The fun way, which I'll describe first, involves a butane torch. Sprinkle 1 tsp. of sugar (either white or brown - whichever your taste buds desire) over each custard. Light the butane torch and fire away at the sugar until it bubbles and becomes golden-dark brown. (~1 minute)

If you don't have a butane torch - or are concerned about the safety risks of having on in your house, here is a second way of burning the sugar on your crème brulee. Cover each custard with 1 tsp of sugar. Arrange them on a small baking sheet and place them into a preheated broiler. Broil until the sugar just starts to caramelize - you can rotate the sheet for even browning about every 2 minutes. When the sugar starts to bubble or turns golden-dark brown, remove the custards from your oven and chill them until the sugar hardens, about 2 hours.

*This process requires that you move quickly - you don't want the bottom half of your custards to separate from the top half - this creates an uneven and frowned upon crème brulee. After you pour the water into the pan - try to get the custards into the oven fast to prevent this separation from happening.