Festive Creme Brulee

Happy Christmas & New Year 2014!!

This may well be the last post of 2013… unless I’l be blogging about the Christmas holidays extravagance and indulgence! What will you be eating?

Hope you have all done part or near enough most of your Christmas shopping, I officially feel semi-relieved I have completed it ALL, thank god the streets and shops were getting pretty scary, full of pushchairs, queues and hustle ‘n’ bustle!

But hey it’s all part and parcel of the Christmas fever takeover and hopes of a brilliant New Year beckons, so here’s something festive and inviting to tickle your taste buds.

A Crème Brûlée also known as burnt cream is a dessert consisting of a rich custard topped with a contrasting layer of hard layer of burnt sugar/caramel.  Who doesn’t love the first crack of that sugary caramel crust and the texture between this and the creamy custard filling…

French-inspired it is a popular dessert on the menu in Mauritius.  You will find this in Mauritian coookbooks as we also love to have coconut custards or flans.

With my two sexy Creme Brulee’s, I have chosen to go for a winter warming Spiced Ginger & Vanilla and the other a decadent Coconut Creme Brulee. Both a must-try festive dessert for a loved one of friends with a true tropical twist (which I love to do )

You can also do a Mango version with the pulp or fresh mango or try out passionfruit or perhaps a papaya version, decorating with seasonal fresh fruits.

Coconut Creme Brulee

Ingredients:

4-6 tbsp caster sugar

4 large free-range egg yolks

1 Mauritian/Madagascan Vanilla pod, seeds scrapped out

200ml double cream

100ml full-fat canned coconut milk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. In a bowl, whisk 2 tbsp of the sugar into the egg yolks. Pour the cream into a saucepan. Give the coconut milk a stir in its can before measuring out the amount you need into the saucepan. Gently heat the creams with the vanilla, stirring to combine, until they are just below boiling point. Pour onto the yolks and whisk together. Pour into 4 x 150ml ramekins or shallow brûlée dishes

 Put the dishes into a baking tray and pour enough just-boiled water from the kettle to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 20-25 minutes until set but with a slight wobble. Remove from the baking tray and leave to cool

Preheat the grill to medium-high. Sprinkle the remaining sugar evenly on top of each pudding (½ tbsp on each if you’re using ramekins) Grill for 3-4 minutes until the sugar has melted and caramelised. Leave to cool, then put in the fridge and chill before serving.

Spiced Ginger & Vanilla Creme Brulee

For the best results, this recipe should be started the day before, to allow the ginger to infuse with the cream. However, if you are in a real hurry, then steep for an hour and add a pinch of ground ginger to boost the flavour.

Ingredients:

4-6 tbsp light brown sugar (Mauritian preferable)

4 large free-range egg yolks

300ml double cream

1 Mauritian/Madagascan vanilla pod, seeds scrapped out

2 inch Ginger piece, finely grated

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon powder