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Vanilla Crème Brûlée
Updated Nov. 13, 2023
![Vanilla Crème Brûlée](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/12/13/dining/15COOKING-CREME-BRULEE1/15COOKING-CREME-BRULEE1-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2cups heavy or light cream (or half-and-half)
- 1vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛teaspoon salt
- 5egg yolks
- ½cup granulated sugar, plus more for topping
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a saucepan, combine cream, vanilla bean and salt; cook over low heat just until hot. Let sit for a few minutes, then discard vanilla bean. (If using vanilla extract, add it now.)
- Step 2
In a bowl, beat yolks and sugar together until light. Stir about a quarter of the vanilla cream into this mixture, then pour sugar-egg mixture into cream and stir. Pour into four 6-ounce ramekins and place ramekins in a baking dish; fill dish with boiling water halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Step 3
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until centers are barely set. Cool completely. Refrigerate for several hours and up to a couple of days.
- Step 4
When ready to serve, top each custard with about a teaspoon of sugar in a thin layer.
- Step 5
Place ramekins in a broiler 2 to 3 inches from heat source. Turn on broiler. Cook until sugar melts and browns or even blackens a bit, about 5 minutes. Serve within 2 hours.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Another way to brown is the sugar is to use a metal spoon, heat it up for a minute on the stove and lightly touch the sugar. Do it gently and a couple of times and it gets brown and crispy!
Suggestion: Warm everything up first. Set the eggs and cream out so they warm up to room temperature. Fill the baking dish with hot tap water and use that to warm up your ramekins while you assemble the mixture. Then, once the oven's preheated and the water's boiling in a pot on the stove, remove the ramekins from the baking dish and toss the warm water, fill the ramekins with the mixture, pour the boiling water and put it in the oven.
I absolutely love this recipe and often just make it for 2 :) Here are the measurements for the recipe divided by 2.5 to get to 2 egg yolks: 3/4 cups of heavy cream 1 teaspoon of vanilla (I keep it at 1 for the flavor) 2 egg yolks 1/2 cup of sugar Enjoy!
Very nice, well-received at a dinner party on my first attempt even! However, I'm making it again for a few reasons: one, 30 mins wasn't nearly enough time, for at 30 mins the center was still liquid. I baked it for closer to 50 mins; two, to perfect the sugar/browning (I think a bit more sugar and a bit less time, at least with my oven's broiler); and three, to know how much time it needs to set up after browning, to better coordinate it when serving at a dinner party.
Really good & nearly foolproof recipe for crème brulee. I prefer using kitchen torch instead of broiler setting on oven for the brulee step. Not sure anyone has mentioned this in previous comments, but to share the rookie mistake I made 30 years or so ago when newer to brulee making, the reason this says serve within two hours is if you let the brulee sit to long the sugar will start to melt. I only had to make that mistake once. But to share so others might avoid it. ;-)
I am a 20 year old male just now learning to cook - decided to serve this after the first dinner I ever cooked for my family. They went goggle-eyed when I whipped out the blowtorch and they lost their minds when they tasted it. This thing is the easiest dessert you will ever cook and it tastes fantastic. Thank you NYtimes
I am a 12 year old girl, and this was the first dessert I made. It was super fun to make, and it was easy! Now I want to be a pastry chef when I grow up. Thank you very much!!
Real Crème brûlée is never baked above 212 F - it’s supposed to be dense and rich, not airy, gummy, fluffy. When you overheat the cream, like this recipe does, it causes it to dome before collapsing. I’m really disappointed in this recipe - check out Emile Henri’s recipe for a better result.
I've made this recipe a lot of times and it is fantastic. However, I cook it at 200 degrees for about an hour and ten minutes. The texture comes out creamier. I was feeling a little adventurous and decided to make chocolate creme brulee with this recipe, and I added three tablespoons of cocoa powder. There were a few lumps of cocoa when I was done, so I strained it. It turned out amazing. Also, I add all the ingredients cold into a bowl, and cook over a double boiler until it is just hot.
I agree that you really NEED a butane torch to get the proper crust. And most restaurants do 3 thin layers of sugar to get ultimate "Crunch"
This is a very tasty, fancy, and yet easy dish. I am 13 and made this for my family. It was delicious and very simple to make! One thing to be aware of is that the bake time is a little off, is I needed to leave mine in longer than 30 minutes... It was probably more like 40 mins. maybe longer. That being said, make sure to watch the actual "jigglyness" of the creme brulee' instead of just going by the time of the recipe... All in all, I highly recommend this rec
Hi, try this... after you add all the ingredients in the pan, before you put them in the ramekins try cooking the custard a little longer, constantly Stirring. When it coats the back of a wooden spoon without running off. Slide your finger through the custard base is done when it Holds the shape. Happy baking! :-)
Didn't have a torchblower, and I was worried from the comments the oven way wouldn't work, so I put the ramequins in a dish half filled with ice cubes and cold water and put the dish about 3-4 minutes on broil - worked perfectly! best crème brûlée I ever ate!
Best recipe for creme brûlée ever. I’ve made lots of creme brûlée and this one is the best, no frills, no odd flavors, just simple custard at its velvety best. I do pour it through a sieve just to make sure there isn’t the odd bit of something or another. Comes out perfect every time. I should add that I use heavy cream, not half and half. Very easy.
Simple and perfect. Amazing what a little cream, a little sugar, and a few eggs can turn into.
Tasted eggy
I use 4 deep 7oz ramekins instead of the shallow ones. I always fine it takes around 50 minutes to cook so the center isn’t liquid
A wonderful recipe, I make it often. A note that if you use vanilla extract, consider using vanilla bean paste instead. It gives it the appearance of the vanilla bean without all the pain of it.
Very straight forward and super easy
Don’t try to cook this in the microwave unless you like your scrambled eggs very sugary.
This is one of our favorite desserts. I've used the broiler method; it's quick. But I do thoroughly enjoy using the little propane torch.
Perfect!
Perfect. Doubled the recipe and followed it to the letter. Well, almost... It took more than 40 minutes in the oven. And I used a burner instead of the broiler for the sugar on top. According to my dinner guests, best creme brulee I ever made. An absolute keeper.
Followed this exactly except that I have a kitchen torch so I burnt the sugar using that. Turned out perfectly. Quick and easy (as long as you’re organized early in the day), sophisticated dessert.
Made for a small dinner party. Used heavy cream, vanilla extract, and a torch. It could not have been better, absolutely perfect.
When do you actually cook the egg mixture enough to form a custard? You heat the cream mixture until it is hot, then wait a few minutes. (It is less than hot now). Add some of the cream mixture to eggs. (The eggs have cooled the cream mixture.) Add the warmed eggs back to the cooled cream mixture. You now have a warm egg-cream mixture. When do you heat it up to a near simmer, so that it coats a spoon?
My daughter (she is 16) made this at school. She came home with it and omg it was delicious! She will be making it again for mom.moms 85th birthday.
Cut the sugar in half, and use heavy cream instead of half and half. Also much better using a vanilla bean instead of extract. Very good.
Wow. This is a winner. Have made this twice now and used the broiler as suggested. Just divine. The best I have ever eaten. A fabulous recipe for company too.
Easy recipe that has a remarkable taste.
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