Recipe: Malted Crème Brûlée

Crème Brûlée originated in England and was known as “Burnt Cream” before it was given the more exotic-sounding French name most people know it by. For some reason, many people hold the belief that this is a really complicated dessert to prepare, but it is actually really simple. The trick is making sure it’s cooked to perfection with just the right amount of wobble: the edges should be set and the rest should wobble like jelly, resulting in a silky custard. Crème Brûlée is a perfect dessert for entertaining, as all that needs to be done at the last minute is to caramelise the sugar. There are many variations of this well known dessert – this is mine, flavoured with malt. 

Ingredients (serves 4):
1/3 cup Horlicks (malt powder, available from supermarkets)
¼ cup milk
500ml thickened cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
¼ cup caster sugar
1½ tablespoons (6 teaspoons) caster sugar, extra  

Equipment:
4 x 1-cup capacity ramekins or pots
Electric Mixer  

Advance preparation (20 minutes + 40 minutes cooking time):
1. Preheat the oven to 140°C.
2. Mix the Horlicks powder with the milk until it becomes a smooth paste. Place in a saucepan together with the cream and vanilla over a medium low heat. Heat until it just comes to the boil, then remove from heat.
3. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and ¼ cup sugar together in a bowl until slightly thickened.  Gradually add the heated cream, whisking continuously.  Pour the mixture evenly into the ramekins
4. Place the filled ramekins into a roasting pan. Add enough boiling water from the kettle to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins This is known as a bain marie or water bath – for more detail on this technique see previous blog post.
5. Bake for 40 minutes, or until just set – it should still have a slight wobble.
6. Remove the ramekins from the baking dish, cool, then cover with plastic food wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. 

Last minute preparation (< 5 minutes):
7. Preheat grill to high.
8. Sprinkle 1½ teaspoons of castor sugar evenly over the top of each Brûlée. Place under the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes or until sugar bubbles and caramelises. (If you own a kitchen blowtorch, run this over the sugar until it caramelises).
9. Serve immediately.  

Note:
To make 6 crème brûlées, use 6 x ¾-cup ramekins and reduce cooking time by 5 minutes.  

Wine Suggestion:
Botrytis Semillon