Creme Brulee

Where did I get creme brulee for breakfast? At home, of course. I had it again today for breakfast, too! If I had known how easy it was to make, I'd have started years ago. Here's the recipe I use:

10 egg yolks

1 c. granulated sugar

4 c. heavy cream

1 oz. REAL vanilla

Beat eggs yolks with the sugar until the sugar starts to dissolve. I kept beating it to make sure it was dissolved. And because I was bored.

Heat the 4 cups heavy cream and vanilla in a non-reactive pan. What, you ask, is a non-reactive pan? I can tell you this - it's not any of my vintage club aluminum. sigh.

"When a recipe calls for a non-reactive cookware, use clay, enamel, glass, plastic, or stainless steel." Quote ripped from the headlines of What's Cooking America. I used a big teflon wok. I figured the little dark pieces in the creme brulee could be mistaken for vanilla bean, which as we all know I didn't use.

Okay, back to the heating. The recipe says to heat until bubbles form at the edges. For some reason I never could get any bubbles, but using my incredible food intuition, I just said it was ready when I felt like it.

I then added the hot mixture to the egg mixture, VERY slowly and VERY carefully, so I wouldn't end up with scrambled creme brulee. I just used a wisk and a spouted measuring cup, and wisked, wisked, wisked!!

I will warn you - this makes a butt load of creme brulee. There are recipes for smaller quantities here and here, but I really like the stuff, so I made a lot of it. And I had a lot of eggs.

Where were we? Oh, yes, wisking. I placed ramikins in a baking dish, and then filled them up. I poured hot water all around the ramikins in the baking dish, about 1/2" of water. It's called a bain marie. Then I just stuck them in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. I let them cool down, then stuck them in the fridge overnight. I torched their little selves when I was ready to eat them. Yay for creme brulee!