Orange Blossom Water Creme Brulee

Over the years the creme brulee or steamed custard has crossed borders around the globe and nowadays it would be very difficult to find a fine dining restaurant that did not harbor at one stage a creme brulee on its menu.

This is typically a very simple dessert when we look at the ingredients, very simple indeed.

The ingredients in this dessert playa very important part in the success or failure of a creme brulee but the other part is as important if not more and it is the texture. Both parts of the recipe are as important, but if the second part fails it is better to forget about it and start again. This said the first part, the taste, is quite easy to get right, just chose good quality ingredients and the right flavor and this part will a success. The second part, the texture which should be as smooth as possible, is far more critical and difficult to get right, even for a professional. As there are many parameters that come into account: the temperature of the oven and the time of baking being the most important ones. If one fails for a reason or another the texture will be a disaster. So it is good to remember that every step of the method explained below is important.

Today for this example I have chosen a quite unusual flavor, but nevertheless delicious and refreshing: orange blossom water.

First, find some individual portion ceramic dishes where the creme brulee will be baked and presented. Traditionally we use a dish that we call ramequin but a simple ceramic or glass cup will do the job just as fine.

Here are the ingredients needed:

Cream: 540g

Milk: 540g

Orange Blossom Water: 50g

Egg Yolk: 280g

Castor Sugar: 215

First, turn on the oven and set the temperature to140ºC (284ºF), this is for a rotary oven. For other kinds of oven the temperature may differ.

Then place the cream and milk in a thick saucepan and start to heat them up.

Beside that whisk the egg-yolks and the sugar together until well combined.

Once the cream/milk boil take them off the heat and pour over the yolks/sugar mixture mixing all the way with a whisk.

Then pass the whole mixture through a sieve or chinois. Mix in the orange blossom water.

Then fill up the ramequins with the mix up to the top.

Now to bake the creme brulee we need a deep oven-proof flat bottomed dish (stainless steel is fine) as high as or higher than the ramequins, as we need to bake them in a water bath.

Slowly place the each ramequin inside the dish at least 2cm or 3cm apart. Then pour hot tap water into the dish in between the ramequins, keep pouring the hot water until it reaches at least 2/3 of the ramequins' height (make sure no water end up in the creme brulee mixture itself).

Then very slowly insert the dish into the hot oven and close the door. If the oven has a ventilation duct, keep it closed during the baking just to keep the steam inside the oven.

Regarding the baking time, this is also a very critical point because if under baked the creme brulee will not set, and if over baked it will curdle, which means we need to have the baking time just right.

Every oven is different so the temperature from one oven to another can differ while in the same setting. But usually, the baking time should be around 45 to 50 minutes (depending also on the ramequins size). I suggest that you do a timed trial first, just to test your oven. Remember that the creme brulee should be set but never curdled.

Once the baking is just right take the dish out of the oven very slowly as the water has become very hot during the baking. A safer way to process is to take each ramequin out one by one first and the water dish last.

Let the ramequins cool down at room temperature for around 20 minutes, and then place them in a fridge to cool down completely.

When they are cold and a few minutes before serving spread evenly a little castor sugar on the top of each best creme Brulee and burn them with a blow torch until the surface reach a nice dark caramel color.

Then it is ready to serve!

I really hope you enjoyed this recipe.