Revisited Crème Brûlée

Hey foodies!

I don't know about you, but I absolutely love crème brûlée! ;o) It's pretty much the only dessert I ever order at a restaurant.

But the traditional version takes so long to make that I wanted to offer you a quick and revisited crème brûlée recipe. It was Christophe Michalak, the famous French pastry chef, who came up with this brilliant idea and I love the result!

So here are my crème brûlées with orange blossom and orange.

To make 8 small crème brûlées you will need:

- 4gr of NH pectin

- 50gr of sugar

- The zest of one orange

- 50gr of orange juice

- 450gr of heavy cream

- 110gr of egg yolks (5-6 eggs)

- 2 tsp of orange blossom flavouring

- A little sugar for caramelizing your crèmes

To start, weigh 4gr of NH pectin using the scale spoon and mix the pectin with 50gr of sugar.

The pectin must always be mixed with sugar before being incorporated into a preparation.

For this recipe you need NH pectin, not the classic jam pectin. There are several types of pectin and to make your crème brûlée successfully, you need NH pectin.

Zest one orange using the microplane grater.

Then squeeze an orange to get 50gr of orange juice.

In a saucepan, pour 450gr of heavy cream, the orange zest and the 50gr of orange juice.

Use a large enough saucepan because when it boils, the mixture foams and rises. ;o)

Then in a large bowl, pour 110gr of egg yolks. That's about 5 or 6 eggs. Set the egg yolks aside while we heat the cream.

Bring this mixture to a boil.

When the mixture boils, pour in the sugar/pectin and whisk well.

Continue boiling the mixture for 2 to 3 minutes. This is very important! If you don't boil the mixture long enough, the pectin won't set.

After these 2-3 minutes of cooking, pour the cream over the egg yolks.

Mix everything well with a whisk. Then add 2 teaspoons of orange blossom flavouring and mix again.

Finally, pour this cream into 8 small crème brûlée dishes.

I used these pretty little dishes of 8 cm in diameter and 2 cm high. They are quite small but I find them lovely for a indulgent yet light dessert.

Place the crème brûlées in the freezer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, place your crème brûlées in the fridge for an additional 30 minutes. You can make these crème brûlées the day before without any problem. ;o) Just keep them in the fridge.

Maximum 1h before serving, caramelize your crème brûlées. Don't do it more than an hour in advance as your caramel will melt and you'll lose that crunchy texture.

Sprinkle a small amount of sugar on your cream and caramelize it with a kitchen torch. Then add a second layer and repeat. These mini torches are perfect for this step.

And here is the result! The texture is stunning, it's just like a crème brûlée that has been baked in the oven for an hour. ;o)

I hope you'll try this recipe. You can change the flavourings as you like depending on your tastes.

Have a delicious day!

Karin

P.S.: All the equipment used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.