Crème Brulee–Eggless

Crème brûlée (/ˌkrɛm bruːˈleɪ/; French pronunciation: ​[kʁɛm bʁy.le]),^[1] also known as burnt cream, crema catalana, or Trinity cream^[2] is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel. It is normally served at room temperature. Making egg-less Crème Brulee was top of the list in dare section and also it was a challenge given by Jayant uncle who is a food and found of crème brulee and many other french desserts.  

Crème brulee without egg or egg-replacer was bit difficult, but am a person who give up so easily. When I was making Bhapa doi thought of using curd as setting ingredient or stabilizer but it will give a tangy note at the end of a bite which is not really crème brulee flavour, so used mix of crème, condense milk and evaporated milk to make it. Thanks to Gayatri’s brain child Eggless Baking Group and Vimala Lakshmi of Cooking Club who suggested this recipe where she challenges us every month with some Egg based dish and we have to make eggless version.

Crème Brulee is custard base is traditionally flavored with vanilla, but can also be flavored with lemon or orange (zest), rosemary, lavender, chocolate,Amaretto, Grand Marnier, cinnamon, coffee, liqueurs, green tea, pistachio, hazelnut, coconut, or other fruit. Trust me this dish of mine turned out to be the best crème brulee and am happy that it passed the taste test of Dhoddy uncle and got a clear certificate that it is the best Crème Brulee he had. So here is my twist to the traditional dish with my take in egg-less version.

Total time : 3 hrs

Preparation time : 15 min

In active time : 2hrs 15 – 20 mins

Cooking time : 1 hr

Yields : 6 small (3” diameter) and 2 (4” diameter) medium sized ramekins

Difficulty level : Intermediate to Difficult
Recipe Source : Sanjeev Kapoor

 

Ingredients :

200 ml / 1 cup heavy whipping crème

100 ml / 1/2 cup evaporated milk

140 gms/ 1/2 cup condensed milk

50 gms / 3 tbsp custard powder

1/2 cup cold milk

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup sugar for browning

Other things required:

Pan

whisk

ramekins

Brownie pan for baking

Aluminum foil to cover

Method :

• Mix custard powder in 1/2 cup of cold milk.
• In a pan whisk together rest milk, condense milk, heavy whipping cream and sugar.
• Heat the milk till it reaches boiling point, stirring continuously. When it reaches boiling point add in custard powder.
• Stir continuously to avoid lumps in custard.
• Cook for 2 – 3 mins or till it thickens.
• Strain the custard and pour into small ramekins, cover them with aluminum foil.
• Place them in a brownie baking tray i.e. 9 “ x 2” dish.
• Pour enough hot water into the pan to come half way up the sides of ramekins.
• Bake for 40 mins in pre-heated oven at 350ᵒ .
• Remove the ramekins from the pan and refrigerate for at least 2 – 3 hrs.
• Remove the brulee from at-least 30 mins prior to browning the  sugar on top.
• Evenly sprinkle castor sugar over the top of each custard I used around 1/2 – 1 tsp

Caramelizing using Broiler / oven:

• Place the ramekin under the broiler until the sugar is melted and caramelized.

Caramelizing using Spoon:

• Heat a spoon on flame till nice hot.
• Place the heated spoon over the sugared top of custard and listen the sizzle sound, can also smell the caramelized sugar.
• Repeat if some parts are not caramelized.

Notes :

• Can use egg- replacer i.e. you would require  3 tbsp dissolved in 6 tbsp hot water.  Cook cream and milk mix over double boiler.
• Cover the ramekin with foil in order to avoid the water getting in the custard.
• Place the tray on 2nd rack from the top.
• Pour water in the tray after placing the tray in oven, to avoid the splashing the water.
• Ensure that the ramekins should not touch the sides of the pan. As the difference in temperature may result in cracking of the ramekin.
• Use kitchen pad to hold the spoon while heating to protect you from burning.
• After every use wash the spoon as the sugar will burn and stick to the spoon. If you do not wash the spoon you would end up with the charred taste.

Hope you have enjoyed reading this post. Please take a minute to share views and valuable comments. Regards,

Briju Parthasarathy