Easy Homemade Crème Brûlée Recipe (Better Than a Restaurant!)
Crème brûlée feels like a $16 splurge — the kind of dessert people order to feel fancy. But here's the secret: it's one of the easiest desserts you can make at home, and four servings cost about the same as one at a restaurant. No fancy skills required, and you have to make it ahead — so it's actually the least stressful impressive dessert in existence.
Servings: 4 servings
Cost: $6
Equipment
- 1 small saucepan
- 1 whisk
- 1 Rubber spatula
- 1 medium heatproof glass bowl
- 4 4-oz ramekins see my tools section for my suggestion
- 1 8x8 baking dish 9x13 if doubling
- 1 kitchen torch and fuel see my tools section for my suggestion
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/3 cup sugar
- pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- extra sugar for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Add cream to a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring often, until just before it boils. Tiny bubbles will form around the edges of the pan. Set aside to cool slightly.
- While the cream is heating, combine the egg yolks, sugar, salt, and vanilla to the heatproof glass bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
- You will need to temper the eggs by slowly adding a tiny bit of hot cream to the eggs while whisking. Once that is combined, whisk in a little more. Continue this until about half the cream is incorporated, then slowly whisk in the rest of the cream.
- Fill the cake pan with about an inch of very hot, steamy tap water. Making sure the ramekins are completely dry inside, add them to the water, then CAREFULLY add more hot water until the water comes about halfway up the ramekins, being sure not to get even a drop of water in any of the ramekins.
- Whisk the cream mixture to ensure it's fully combined, then pour it into a large liquid measuring cup if your bowl doesn't have a spout. This makes it easier to fill the ramekins. Pour the custard evenly into each ramekin, then very carefully put the pan in the oven, taking great care not to splash water into the custard.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, until the custards are mostly set, but the center is still a little jiggly. Carefully remove from oven, taking care once again not to splash any water into the ramekins, and let them cool about 10-15 minutes in the pan. Once you can comfortably handle the ramekins, remove them from the water and set them on a kitchen towel to finish cooling. Wrap each ramekin in plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours, or up to two days.
- When you are ready to serve, remove plastic wrap and sprinkle a little sugar on the top, swirling the ramekin to make sure the sugar covers the top of the custard. Torch until sugar is lightly caramelized by carefully moving the torch over the top of the custard. Do not hold the torch too close, and be careful to not burn any countertops or table linens. I like to put them on a metal sheet pan (not a nonstick pan) to torch them. See my notes above. Wait about one minute to serve so the sugar cools and creates a crunchy crust to break through. See the post on using the broiler to torch them.