Creme Brulee!! Oooh La La!

Sadly once you get back from a 24/7 food vacation it is hard to get back into not expecting super deliciousness at your beck and call.

I plunked out some mac'n'cheese with tomatoes on the side and I get a strange look. "Where's the appetizers (plural)?" "Where's MORE side dish?" "Where's my piece of baguette bread?" "Where's dessert?" *sigh* Listen up people we have to go hard core on breaking ourselves from the eat.eat.EAT! mentality. As hard as that is going to be. It must be done.

Of course, someone had the bright idea to suggest that I make creme brulee.  Allrighty then. Let me get right on it....................  I did make a small effort and picked up Mr. Food's Restaurant Favorites to casually look through. Lo and behold there was a recipe for creme brulee on page 179!! And it didn't look that difficult. And I was only missing one vital ingredient.  Whoohoo!

I had to trek the lovely children to the orthodontist and expanded on that trip to get the required ingredients for this said food adventure.

I must say it turned out great! It was very easy and I was certain I was going to burn it to the pan and create a big mess. But, I should really know better. Mr. Food usually nails it.

2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

1 cup sugar, divided

6 egg yolks (HOLY EGG YOLKS, BATMAN!)

1teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine heavy cream, milk, 1/2 cup sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. Cook 30 minutes, stirring frequently; be careful not to boil.
    
2. Remove from heat and beat 5 to 6 minutes, or until smooth and thick. Pour equally into four 1-cup custard cups. Chill 4 to 6 hours, or until custard is very firm.
    
3. In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt remaining sugar until golden, then pour over chilled custards; chill 15 to 20 minutes, or until sugar hardens. Serve, or keep chilled until ready to serve (See Note).

Note

These can be topped with melted sugar and chilled up to 2 hours before serving. (Serves 6)

I thought I would have to stand over and stir for a solid 30 minutes. But, frequently apparently doesn't mean continuously. Thank goodness! While I was preparing this, I made breakfast. I had 6 egg whites to deal with and there was no way on this planet I was throwing them out.  I went ahead and cracked 3 more whole eggs into the mix and everyone had scrambled eggs!

I should say that I followed the recipe almost exactly. When I "melted" the sugar at the end, there was a teense bit more than 1/2 cup. And that worked out just fine.  I should also mention that melted sugar is HOT!! I almost burned my hand off. I resorted to pouring it out of the pan and then sloshing the bowl around  in order to disperse the sugar properly.  This worked like a charm.

This dessert was creamy and delicious and I didn't need to get out the blow torch for the top part. It felt like it was a slightly "cheater" of a brulee recipe. Buttttttt, it tasted fantastic and everyone loved it (for the most part.) C#1 didn't like the hardened sugar. No one else agreed AT ALL! So pretty much ---> don't listen to him.

And that's it for today's adventure.  Till next time...