Description
Five ingredients is all it takes to make Chestnut Crème Brûlée. Milk, heavy cream, egg yolks, sugar, and a sweet and nutty chestnut spread is all you need to craft this beautiful burnt cream. A Corsican riff on the French crème brûlée, you can make this creamy dessert up to two days ahead of serving.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 8 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup chestnut spread such as Clément Faugier
- 1/2 cup course sugar. I prefer to use Demerara sugar but you could use regular granulated sugar too.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F.
- Heat milk and heavy cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat until the mixture just comes to a boil. Then remove from heat and set aside.
- Whisk the egg yolks and 1/4 cup of sugar in a separate medium mixing bowl. Whisk for about two minutes until well combined, smooth and pale color. Add the chestnut spread and whisk until it is well combined.
- Gradually add hot milk mixture into beaten egg chestnut mixture, but keep whisking while you are pouring the hot milk. Whisk until it is combined.
- Pour custard mixture evenly into 8 ramekins, and place ramekins in a baking tray. Pull out the oven rack halfway and put the tray in the oven. Then carefully pour enough hot water in the tray to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 55 minutes.
- Take the baking tray out of the oven, and remove the ramekins using a large spatula, and transfer to a wire cooling rack. Let cool for about an hour to room temperature. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours.
- To serve, sprinkle ramekins evenly with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Using a kitchen torch, torch tops until sugar caramelizes.
Notes
Crème brûlée may be made up to step #6 up to 2 days ahead.
Don’t have a torch? Don’t worry... Use the oven’s broiler until you see all the sugar caramelized. Make sure you do this step after the chestnut crème brûlées have been set in the refrigerator for several hours.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: bain-marie bath
- Cuisine: French
