I like foods with which I can interact. Crème brûlée is one of those foods. In order to eat it, you have to tap at it and puncture its glass-like, sugary surface. The experience is like bursting a delicate, sweet balloon.
Crème brûlée also is a very unassuming food. It appears dainty and is often garnished with a few rasberries or similar fruits. However, the dish’s flavors are complex. The flavors and textures shift back and forth in your mouth between the warm, smoky, sugary bits from the hard surface, and the creamy, cool custard inside.
During the fall season every food is somehow receiving a pumpkin spin–why should crème brûlée be any different? I was surprised and delighted to find a pumpkin crème brûlée recipe on Recipe Lion. I also think the dish lends itself to flavorings such as pumpkin, as it already has a smoky, sweet taste, and sometimes is made with orange, coffee and even chocolate flavoring.
My excitement grew, when I found the pumpkin crème brûlée recipe on Recipe Lion did not call for a culinary torch. While I love watching wait staff and cooks torch the crème brûlée at my table, I’m very intimidated by the instrument, myself.
Ingredients
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
2 1/4 cup whipping cream
1 vanilla bean, split in half
7 egg yolks
1 cup granulated sugar; divided
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon chopped crystallized ginger
Instructions
1. In a heavy saucepan over medium temperature, heat the pumpkin puree, cream and vanilla bean halves to a boil and set aside.
2. Place the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a medium stainless steel bowl (or the top of a double boiler) and place the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water.
3. Whisk constantly until the mixture forms a ribbon when you lift the whisk, about 6 or 8 minutes. Be careful not to scramble the egg mixture.
4. Slowly whisk in hot pumpkin mixture to the egg mixture and stirring frequently, cook over medium heat until the mixture has the consistency of softly whipped cream, 40 to 50 minutes.
5. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and ginger and mix well.
6. Pour into 6 custard cups and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.
7. When ready to serve, sprinkle each custard with 4 teaspoons sugar and place under a preheated broiler for 2 or 3 minutes or until sugar is browned.
8. Serve immediately.
The recipe makes 6 servings and looks great. I can’t wait to try it out for Thanksgiving this year. I think my family will be impressed!
If you’re looking for some other tasty Thanksgiving recipes, I enjoyed some offered by Susan on her blog called “Food Blogga.”
For more pumpkin recipes, you might check out the blog, “What Megan’s Making.”
For some pumpkin-flavored breakfast ideas, you might like a blog called “The Sweet Life.”
For some other pumpkin desserts go to “Girl Eats Word.”
Finally, for a bunch of pumpkin recipes all in one place, go to Recipe Lion’s “20 of Our Best Pumpkin & Halloween Recipes.”
If anyone tries the crème brûlée recipe before Thanksgiving, let me know how it is and if there are any quirks about the recipe!
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