This year, many of us Doristas exchanged Christmas cards, and some, including Dorie, herself, sent favorite family recipes.  So, our challenge for this week is to make up a recipe we’ve missed, or one we’d received.  Although some of the recipes were amazing, I elected to make up a missed recipe, Dorie’s Crème Brûlée.  This beloved dessert is deceptively easy to make.  The only thing you really need is time.  Mixing the cream is easily and quickly accomplished by hand.  Now comes the waiting.  The Crème Brûlée bakes at only 200 degrees.  The recipe calls for 1 hour in the oven, but I found that they needed much longer to set, as did some of my fellow Doristas who made this recipe 3 years ago.  Then, it rests in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before you add the sugar and caramelize it with a culinary torch.
The real surprise is the tiny bit of raspberry jam tucked in to the bottom of each dish.  In truth, I love the cream custard better than the caramelized topping, so if I’d planned ahead, I would have made Dorie’s non-brûlée version with fresh berries.
We enjoyed this creamy dessert as a sweet ending to our Christmas dinner.
Joyeux Noel, Doristas!
Merry Christmas Susan! Live your photo of your cat sneaking under the tree. Sorry you wren’tca fan of the creme brulee – at least you have discovered a terrific baked custard recipe.
Creme brulee makes for a terrific holiday dessert–my family wasn’t so thrilled with the addition of jam as I recall. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and best wishes to you and John for a spectacular new year!!! xo
This creme brulée is still on my to-do list. I don’t have a torch (yet), so I like your endorsement of the plan custard with the jam/berries garnish. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, Susan.
Your creme brûlée looks so good, and I love the idea of a jam surprise. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, your kitties look very happy! 🙂
Susan, it looks delicious and it did take awhile to set, didn’t it? I remember this recipe caused quite a commotion! We all had to make some adjustments with the creme brulee and berries are the *perfect* addition! 🙂
They look gorgeous, even if they weren’t your favorite! I was trying to remember if I’d made this recipe or not, but I think I made a different crème brûlée recipe of Dorie’s. Either way, I remember it taking forever to set and getting anxious as I hadn’t planned enough time for it. Hope you had a lovely Christmas!
Your creme brûlee looks wonderful, it takes a while to prepare, but so worth it. Susan, I love your
new blog design, beautiful. Jim and I wish you and John a very Happy New Year.
I love the new look of your blog, Susan. This was a good one to catch up on. It’s the perfect ending to a special meal. I wish you and John a very Happy New Year!
1) Love the new site.
2) Sorry this wasn’t a hit for you – I vaguely remember having issues with this one.
3) I hope you and John had a lovely holiday – the cats are just too precious ;-O
Happy New Year, my friend 🙂
Your cats are gorgeous! I remember enjoying this dessert, but it wasn’t my favourite version, either. I hope you and John had a very merry Christmas and have a happy New Year!
My favorite crème brûlée recipe came from Epicurious.com, and had a layer of raspberry jam at the bottom. I wonder if it is Dorie’s recipe?? Actually, I never used the jam – preferred to make them simple or infused with lavender! Yours look beautiful!
Susan, your photos are stunning!! The site looks so gorgeous.
I remember being on the side of not loving the jam. These didn’t turn out as well for me, but yours look lovely, and I’m so happy you enjoyed them.
Happy New Year!!
Thank you for sharing one of he older recipes. I missed that one too.
Happy New Year to you and the kitties!