Blood Orange Crème Brûlée

While I was in Brookyln meeting up with some old friends from college, we got talking about food since I brought up the food blog. My one friend gave me a bit of a quiz as to the best tips for making crème brûlée. Before I could say anything, someone else chimed in with the exact same tip I was going to mention and left me with nothing because I realized...... I haven't made crème brûlée in years! What kind of dessert blogger am I if I don't even share a single crème brûlée with you?

So in an effort to make a dessert that is a bit romantic for Valentine's Day, add a crème brûlée to the blog's repotoire, and give more tips on making the perfect creme brûlée, I decided to whip up this lusciously rich blood orange crème brûlée for you.

Let me tell you about my struggles making anything blood orange related this year. I've been going to every store I could think of for the entire month trying to find blood oranges. Last year, you couldn't go anywhere without bumping into a blood orange this time of year. Now, it's like the entire state of New Jersey's been banned from selling blood oranges!! They aren't anywhere I go! Eventually, I used a produce delivery service to send me blood oranges. They were $1.49 PER ORANGE. What the heck. I was desperate though. They arrived the next day and.... they looked like regular oranges with just the lightest tint of red near the pith. F.M.L, ya'll!!! The best part about blood oranges is the deep ruby red of the entire orange when you open them up.

Whatever.
If you have "bloodier" blood oranges available, I promise your blood orange crème brûlée will be a nice pretty pink
I don't have a kitchen torch, so I use the broiler in my oven. It creates a darker sugar crust with more blackened spots. I like this because the sweet, slightly bitterness of the blackened sugar crust contrasts beautifully with the sweet, velverty creme. You can keep it on a more golden brown tone with a torch or keeping an even closer eye on your broiler.

Blood Orange Crème Brûlée

Yield: 4 small crème brûlée

Prep Time: 18 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 3 minutes

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Ingredients

• 1 cup blood orange juice, plus the zest of one orange
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
2. In a small saucepan, boil the blood orange juice until it is reduced to ½ cup. Add the zest, sugar and heavy cream and stir until combined and begins to lightly bubble. Remove from heat.
3. Temper the eggs by slowly drizzling ½ of the cream mixture into the eggs and whisking the eggs constantly. Slowly add the egg mixture back with the rest of the cream and mix well.
4. Strain everything through a fine mesh strainer and divide it into ramekins. Each ramekin should be about ⅔ pf the way full.
5. Place the ramekins in a baking pan and fill the baking pan with water until it is halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the baking pan with aluminum foil.
6. Bake for about 45 - 60 minutes, or until the creme brulee is set. It should still jiggle in the center, but not be liquidy. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate to completely set.
7. Once you are ready to serve, add the sugar to each ramekin, swirling to ensure the creme brulee has an even coating of sugar. Use your oven broiler or kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar. Serve immediately, or within the hour or else the sugar crust will soften and become chewy.

Did you make this recipe?

I'd love to see how it turned out! Tag me @acookienameddesire and use the hashtag #acookienameddesire Don't forget to purchase the Cozy Baking eBook!!