Chai Crème Brûlée
Photography by Aaron McLean.
There are two important steps when cooking brûlée to ensure a silky smooth finish: the infused custard must be cold before placing in the ramekins and only add very hot but not boiling water to the roasting dish – this is referred to as cooking in a bain marie.
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
2 cups cream
½ cup milk
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
6 whole cloves
20 whole black peppercorns
½ teaspoon cardamom seeds
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
4 egg yolks
½ cup caster sugar
To finish
4 tablespoons caster sugar
brûlée torch
4 x ¾ cup-capacity ovenproof ramekins
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 125˚C
Brûlée: Put the cream, milk and all the spices and the vanilla in a saucepan and bring to just below boiling point. Whisk the egg, egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl then very slowly whisk the hot cream with the aromatics into the egg mixture. Cool then cover and chill for up to 2 days to infuse the flavours.
To assemble: Strain the custard into a large jug and discard the solids. Place the ramekins in a deep roasting dish lined with a cloth napkin and pour the custard into each ramekin. Add enough very hot tap water to the roasting dish to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 30 minutes or until just set with a slight wobble in the centre. Remove from the roasting dish and cool. The custard will continue to set as it cools. Cover the ramekins and refrigerate until well chilled or up to 24 hours.
To finish: Sprinkle each brûlée with a tablespoon of sugar and use a brûlée torch to caramelize the sugar. If you don’t have a torch, you can serve the brûlées without the sugar topping and they will still be delicious.
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