Saturday, May 2, 2009

Grand Marnier Crème Brûlée (1/22)

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Ah, crème brûlée. A custard of heavy cream, egg yolks and sugar with a shell of caramelized sugar on top--what more could one ask? Oh, a splash of Grand Marnier and a clementine suprême in every dish? Why, thanks, Peabody!

I follow Alton Brown's advice on everything/torching the sugar, which he does by holding the flame directly above the ramekin, focusing on one spot, then moving over a little after that one's all done, rather than rotating the flame over the sugar in circles. You can also finish these off under the broiler, but keep an eye on them!


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Grand Marnier Crème Brûlée
from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Ingredients
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup crème fraîche
pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Grand Marnier
2 clementines, peeled, sections and skin removed
sugar for topping (about 1/8 cup)

Directions
Position rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 300F.
Have ready four-6 ounce ramekins or custard cups and a 10-inch square
baking pan. Place three slices of Clementines at the bottom of each
ramekin. Put on a kettle of water to boil for the water bath.

Combine the cream, crème fraîche, and salt in a medium heavy saucepan
and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, just until hot.
Remove from heat.

Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and Grand Marnier in a medium
bowl. Slowly pour in the cream mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the
mixture through a fine strainer set over a large glass measure or
bowl.

Divide the custard evenly among the ramekins, skimming any foam from the
top. Place the ramekins in the baking pan, place the
pan in the oven, and carefully add enough boiling water to the baking
pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until custards are set around the edges but still
slightly jiggly in the center. Do not over bake--the custards will set
further as they cool. Remove the pan from the oven and let the custards stand
in the water bath for 10 minutes.

With tongs or a wide metal spatula, carefully transfer the ramekins to
a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate, tightly
covered, for at least 3 hours, until thoroughly chilled and set, or for
up to 2 days.

Sift sugar evenly over the custard. Using a kitchen torch on low
flame, melt sugar until it has turned a dark amber color and serve.

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