At the mere mention of the word “dessert,” involuntarily, associations arise with some beautiful, sweet, tender and melting in your mouth delicacy. For some, it's bird's milk or flavored ice cream, for someone it's tiramisu or sponge cake with whipped cream. One thing is obvious - creme brulee is always out of competition.
Creme brulee is an unparalleled French dessert with an unforgettable and unique taste. Soft, airy cream, covered with golden caramel glaze. This is a real culinary sophistication, sophisticated and unique masterpiece of French cuisine.
Modern housewives successfully prepare it with their own hands, since all the necessary ingredients will certainly be found in any home, and the process of cooking is surprisingly simple. Like all brilliant, however.
Creme brulee - general principles of cooking
The established classic recipe of crème brulee, which has grown fond of the whole world, was invented in the 17th century. Since then, fans of culinary experiments have repeatedly added to their usual list of products something from themselves. Some wanted to give a brighter flavor, others - to play with a palette of tastes, and others - to create their own signature recipe ... However, as a result, only a few additional ingredients were entrenched - cinnamon, lemon peel and vanilla. It is these spices that add to the classic dessert more often.
Classic creme brulee can be cooked in the oven or in a water bath. Today, simple hostesses and professional chefs know how to cook this sweet treat, even in microwave ovens.
The "highlight" of any creme brulee is golden caramel glaze. It is prepared like this: sugar is melted to brown color and poured onto a ready-made cream with a thin layer. After some time, the caramel hardens and forms a characteristic sweet crust.
The whole process from the preparation of products to complete cooking creme brulee takes about one and a half hours.
The traditional calculation of products per serving of dessert: 1 egg yolk, 20g of sugar and 100ml of cream. To add or not to add to the classic set of additional spices, decides the cook himself.
What you need from dishes
It makes sense to cook dishes and necessary household appliances in advance, because then there will be no time to be distracted by their search or even purchase.
Be sure to need a mixer or a whisk to beat the yolks with sugar, and a baking sheet to put on it the dough with creme brulee.
It is better to take small molds (for example, for cupcakes), in which equal portions of dessert will be baked.
A dry clean pan is needed to make caramel.
Some masters prepare the top sweet crust and in a water bath, boiling it to brown.
Milk is often added to the main ingredients, so you may need a small saucepan in which it will be boiled.
Classic creme brulee dessert
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons of sugar for caramel - the larger the sugar, the better;
- 8 egg yolks (no protein will be needed);
- 2 glasses of cream with fat content of 30%;
- one third cup of powdered sugar or sand;
- vanilla sugar (a teaspoon would be enough).
Cooking Method:
Grind the sugar or powder with yolks. Beat up need about a minute, until the sugar dissolves. When the whipped mass turns white, add hot vanilla cream to it, while still stirring with a spoon.
Gentle cream is ready, you can pour it into molds.
Fill the baking tray with a third of water, put the molds on it and send it to the preheated oven. 160 degrees is enough for baking this dessert.
The readiness of creme brulee is determined by hardened edges. And the edges should bake, and in the middle the dessert should remain liquid.
Get ready delicacy out of the oven and, after cooling a little, pour a thin layer of caramel glaze.
A caramel crust for creme brulee can be prepared in different ways:
1. On the pan. Large sugar is melted in a hot hot frying pan until brown. It is advisable to add a few drops of water to the sugar.
2. In a saucepan. In a small bowl, boil the sugar until it is completely dissolved.
3. Use a culinary sugar blowtorch, which is previously spread on the surface of the dessert in an even layer. 4. Ready creme brulee sprinkled with sugar and put in the oven for a few minutes, until the crust becomes golden.
5. In the oven on the grill. Sprinkle with sugar every serving of dessert and set in an oven preheated to 240 degrees. When the sugar becomes brown and boils, the creme brulee molds can be pulled out.
The finished caramel is poured hot on the dessert, as it solidifies very quickly. Therefore, to prepare the glaze in advance is not worth it.
Orange Creme Brulee
Ingredients:
- 100g of sugar;
- a glass of milk;
- 2 oranges;
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon;
- 6 egg yolks;
- 350ml fat cream;
- 100g cranberries.
Cooking Method:
Beat the yolks with sugar until white, until the sugar crystals are completely dissolved.
In a separate bowl, mix the cinnamon, cream and milk. Boil. Do not boil, and immediately removed from the stove.
Now you need to make a fruit and berry filling. To do this, mix the cranberries with orange pulp and immediately spread on the molds in equal portions.
Pour the egg mixture into a container with preheated milk and cream. Boil until thick and hot to be poured into molds.
After heating the oven to 180 degrees, send creme brulee there for about half an hour. At this time, prepare the caramel, then to pour it ready dessert.
Cool and serve.
Creme Brulee Coffee Dessert
Ingredients:
- instant coffee - 1.5 tablespoons;
- 4 yolks;
- a teaspoon of vanilla sugar;
- 2 tablespoons of coarse sugar (for caramel crust);
- cream sugar (3/4 cup);
- cream fat content of 20% (0.5 liters).
Cooking Method:
Mix the yolks and sugar until white, and mix the cream, coffee and vanillin and bring to the boil.
Gently pour the egg mixture into the cream, mix and pour the resulting mass into small molds.
Put them (molds) on a baking sheet filled with water for 3 cm.
Cook in preheated oven for about 45 minutes.
Ready dessert, according to tradition, pour liquid caramel.
Creme brulee with pistachios
Ingredients:
- 500ml heavy cream;
- orange peel (you can grate an orange peel on a fine grater);
- 5 egg yolks;
- 100g of sugar;
- vanilla to taste.
- 35g green pistachios.
Cooking Method:
Mix vanilla, cream, crushed pistachios, orange zest and half sugar in one container. Cook the resulting mass while stirring over medium heat. When the sugar has dissolved, bring the cream to a boil, but do not boil.
While the cream is cold, grind the remaining half of the sugar with 5 yolks in another container and add the egg mixture to the cream. Stir and pour into molds.
Take a baking sheet, fill it with water at half the height of the molds and put the future treat there.
Bake the creme brulee in the oven for an hour.
Pour the surface of the dessert with caramelized sugar and keep it in the refrigerator until it cools completely.
Banana Creme Brulee Dessert with Cinnamon
Ingredients:
- juice squeezed from half a lemon;
- 500ml 10% cream;
- 2 bananas;
- half a teaspoon of cinnamon;
- tablespoon of brown sugar;
- 5 yolks;
- 1 whole egg;
- 100g sugar + 50g for caramel.
Preparation Method:
Bring the cream to a boil and cool for 10 minutes. Beat the sugar, egg and yolks until white. Sugar should dissolve completely. Mix egg mass with cream.
Cut bananas into a separate container, add brown sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon. Mix gently. Banana circles carefully lay out on the bottoms of each of the molds, and then pour the egg-cream to the top.
In the oven heated to 150 degrees, put a baking sheet, one third filled with water. Place the molds with the future dessert on it and leave to bake for about 30-40 minutes.
After full readiness to melt the sugar to brown color and pour the resulting creme brulee icing.
Serve completely chilled.
This is only a small part of those recipes that exist today. Creme brulee can be cooked with tangerines, and with yogurt, and with peaches, and even with liquor. Each cook adds to his classic recipe a drop of his imagination, receiving a new version of the French dessert, so beloved by the world.
Creme brulee - tricks and tips
A few simple but useful tricks to help make this exquisite delicacy even tastier:
1. To prepare creme brulee is preferable in small molds. This will allow the dessert to bake evenly and also significantly reduce the waiting time. In addition, this method allows you to initially divide the dish into equal portions - this is especially true if there are several children or guests in the family. Look at the same molds with a beautiful and neat dessert.
2. Yolks with sugar and cream are not rubbed to a cool foam, but to white color. Some hostesses do not recommend working with a whisk or a mixer, but with a spoon in order to prevent foaming in time.
3. “Creme brulee” literally translates from French as “burnt cream”. This name was given to the dessert due to the top caramel crust, which can be obtained without burning in a dry frying pan. Rescue special culinary device, resembling a small blowtorch. If there is such a device in the house, then to create a firm golden layer, you just need to sprinkle the finished cream with sugar and melt it with a cooking lamp to caramelize. If there is no such device, then after the creme brulee is ready, you can put it in the oven for a couple of minutes on the top heater, sprinkled with sugar.
The finished creme brulee is served on the table completely chilled. Therefore, cooks prefer to cook this sweet treat about a day before serving.
If desired, you can decorate the dessert with fresh berries, grated chocolate, coconut flakes, nuts or mint leaves.
