Espresso Creme Brulee

I love creme brulee. I love how easy it is to make, it's sorta fancy, and everyone loves it. Last day after Thanksgiving, I ate dinner at N's house and her brother made espresso creme brulee, which was DELICIOUS. I asked him for the recipe shortly after via facebook, but I never got around to making it until last week.

I was mostly inspired to make it because I went to Ross to get another dog food bowl (since Soba is growing so fast and couldn't share with Obs). What I also found were six mini 2 oz. ramekin dishes! I love all things mini and these were such a great deal (six for $2.99) that I decided the next day I had to make creme brulee.

I also lost my home torch awhile back so I bought a new one. This was $25.95 and I love it. It is so much better than my old torch since it has so much more power. Oh, that brocolli on the board is from our garden.

Of course six mini ramekin dishes only holds 12 oz of the mixture so I made some in my normal ramekins and since it was espresso flavored, I decided to make some in our espresso cups as well.

Like I said, so simple. You only need a few ingredients and you just need to watch your custard so it doesn't overcook. If I do say so myself, these were perfectly done. I took some home to Phoenix and my family immediately asked me to make more next weekend. Therefore, this past weekend I brought them vanilla creme brulee, almond creme brulee, and of course, more espresso creme brulee.

Stay tuned: Tonight I made gorgonzola and leek creme brulee. They are currently cooling on the counter.

Espresso Creme Brulee (no source as N's brother facebooked me the recipe):
Ingredients
4 cups heavy cream , chilled
2/3 cup granulated sugar
pinch table salt
1/4 cup espresso beans placed in zipper-lock bag and crushed lightly
with rolling pin or meat pounder until coarsely cracked
12 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 - 12 teaspoons turbinado sugar or Demerara sugar

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Combine 2 cups cream, sugar, and salt in medium saucepan; add espresso beans to pan, submerged in cream, and bring mixture to boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that sugar dissolves. Take pan off heat and let steep 15 minutes to infuse
flavors.
3. Meanwhile, place kitchen towel in bottom of large baking dish or roasting pan and arrange eight 4- to 5-ounce ramekins (or shallow fluted dishes) on towel. Bring kettle or large saucepan of water to boil over high heat.
4. After cream has steeped, stir in remaining 2 cups cream to cool down mixture. Whisk yolks and vanilla extract in large bowl until broken up and combined. Whisk about 1 cup cream mixture into yolks until loosened and combined; repeat with another 1 cup cream. Add remaining cream and whisk until evenly colored and thoroughly combined. Strain through fine-mesh strainer into 2-quart measuring cup or pitcher (or clean medium bowl); discard solids in strainer. Pour or ladle mixture into ramekins, dividing it evenly among them.
5. Carefully place baking dish with ramekins on oven rack; pour boiling water into dish, taking care not to splash water into ramekins, until water reaches two-thirds height of ramekins. Bake
until centers of custards are just barely set and are no longer sloshy and digital instant-read thermometer inserted in centers registers 170 to 175 degrees, 30 to 35 minutes (25 to 30 minutes for shallow fluted dishes). Begin checking temperature about 5 minutes before recommended
time.
6. Transfer ramekins to wire rack; cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. Set ramekins on rimmed baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 4 days.

*He told me instead of doing the crushed espresso bean, he put in two tsp of Colombia Starbucks Via Instant, which is what I did. I made it before not using Via and the espresso taste is not as rich so I suggest that as well.