Creme Brulee Donuts

I think the thing I love the most about being a food blogger is being able to share my crazy creations. 

I love taking 2 or more classic dishes and smashing them together to come up with something new (or at least new-ish)! 

For this bad boy I took a no bake crème brulee and combined it with my old fashioned jelly donut recipe. The result? UH-mazing. My new favorite donuts in the universe. 

Anytime you can enjoy 2 desserts in one is a win in my books! 

Crème Brulee Donuts

Donuts

our OLD FASHIONED JELLY DONUTS recipe HERE

Crème Brulee Filling

3 cups heavy cream

3 tsp vanilla extract 

8 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

Topping

granulated sugar

Directions

Prepare donuts as per instructions in our Old Fashioned Jelly Donut post HERE. 

Prepare the crème brulee - Place the heavy cream in a pot. Heat the cream until it starts to steam. Remove from heat and set aside.  

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and thick. Beat in vanilla. Slowly whisk in the hot cream, a little at a time, until well combined. 

Place back over medium-low heat. Cook, without boiling, until mixture thickens to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat. Pour into a bowl and set aside. 

Assemble crème brulee donuts - cut a small amount out of the center of each donut (as per photo).

Spoon the crème brulee filling into each donut and smooth the top as well as you can.  Place in fridge or somewhere cool to chill completely. 

When filling is completely cool, sprinkle generously with sugar. Only do 2 or 3 at a time so the sugar doesn't start to dissolve. 

Use a kitchen torch to brulee the sugar until bubbly and browned. Watch you do not burn it!

Serve immediately. 

These are best eaten the day they are made. They will last a day or so but once you cook the sugar it will only stay crisp for so long. They will stay taste delicious you will just lose the signature crunch of the crème brulee topping!

I think I used about 1/2 to 1 tsp of sugar per donut but I didn't really measure. Be generous! 

The donut recipe makes about 1 1/2 to 2 dozen donuts and the filling should be enough for all of them. If you have extra filling, pour it in a ramekin, top it with sugar and brulee it just like you would normal crème brulee. You can make the holes in the donuts as big or small as you like for more or less filling. 

Note - I'd go with more.... it's delicious. 

Creme Brulee Ice Cream

I feel delightfully evil right now.

Like, tenting my fingers, arching one eyebrow, and cackling "Mwah ha ha" kind-of evil.

See that photo above?

It's Creme Brulee Ice Cream.

Maybe I need to restate that so you understand the importance...

CREME.

BRULEE.

ICE.

CREAM.

Yes, it tastes amazing.

Yes, it is incredibly smooth and silky.

Yes, you torch the sugar on top so you get to hear that amazing crack when you eat it.

Yes, it is everything you would hope it will be.

I feel like I invented the best food in the world right there.

Okay, maybe I didn't "invent" it.

Let's say "perfected it".

Pure evil genius.

Creme Brulee Ice Cream

Ingredients

8 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1 cup 1/2 & 1/2 cream (or whole milk)

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

2 cups whipping cream (heavy cream)

1/4 tsp salt

extra sugar for sprinkling (about 10 - 12 tsp)

Directions

Beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and light yellow.

In a medium saucepan, heat 1/2 & 1/2 with the vanilla bean pod and scraped vanilla seeds until steaming and one or two bubbles break the surface. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 10 minutes.

Remove bean pod and discard (or save for another use).

Slowly pour the hot 1/2 & 1/2 into the egg yolks while constantly whisking (or in the bowl of a running stand mixer) Do this slowly so you don't curdle the eggs.

Pour back into the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat until custard coats the back of a spoon. Be careful not to overcook or it will curdle.

Remove from heat and pour through a sieve into a bowl. Stir in the 2 cups of whipping cream.

Chill for several hours or overnight.

Pour chilled cream mixture into your ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.

When it is finished processing spoon into ramekins and smooth tops.

(I got 6 large ramekins and 6 small ramekins)

(Ooooooh smooth and silky)

Freeze until solid. (At least 3 - 4 hours)

Remove ramekins from freezer about 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle approx 1 tsp of sugar on top of each ramekin. Use a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar.

Enjoy.

Okay. I didn't wait until it was frozen completely solid. I couldn't wait that long. I waited about an hour before bringing out the torch and caramelizing away.

Oh.my.gosh.

Amazing! (If I do say so myself...hehehe)

I can't wait until it is "frozen" frozen so it stays a little more solid. As you can see from the above photo it got a little melty.

It's okay. I still managed to get through it just fine.

*Sigh*

I suppose it would be wrong of me to eat the entire batch.

**UPDATE** - Okay, here are some pics of the ice cream after I let it freeze hard.
Oh. My. Goodness.
Go make this.

Go ahead...

Have a bite.....

Pop over to Kayla's Creations for great links.
Six Sister's Stuff has fun links too!
Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons has some links worth checking out too!
Want even more links? Then go to A Crafty Cook's blog.

Creme Brulee Cookies

Ever since a friend of mine introduced me to crème brulee I have been a little crème brulee crazy. I tried Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee and Crème Brulee Cheesecake Bars. Then I came across a recipe, whilst Googling, for crème brulee cookies. Well, several different recipes to be exact. The idea intrigued me. None of them seemed to be exactly what I was looking for though. The one on this blog (itsabcd.blogspot.com) was the closest to what I imagined crème brulee in a cookie to be. I only made a few small changes to come up with this version.

I don’t know if it is the flavour of the crème brulee or the fact that I get to use the kitchen torch that keeps me trying different versions of crème brulee recipes.

.

 Crème Brulee Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter, room temp

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1 pkg (3.4 oz) Jello vanilla pudding mix (not prepared)

2 eggs

Vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped

2 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

Pinch salt

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 pkg (I believe 3.7 oz) Dr.Oetker Crème Brulee Mix, prepared as per package

instructions

¼ cup white sugar, for sprinkling on top

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare Dr. Oetker (that is the brand I had available here – I’m sure whichever brand would work) Crème Brulee Mix as per package directions and set aside.

In large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Add in Jello vanilla pudding mix and blend until combined. Add in eggs and vanilla bean seeds. (Save pod for another use)

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat until combined.

Using small cookie scoop – or just pinching off a golf ball sized amount with your fingers and rolling into balls, scoop dough onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper a couple of inches apart. Using your thumb or back of measuring Tbsp, press indent into cookies.

Chill in fridge for about 15 minutes.

Carefully fill indents with prepared crème brulee filling. You can fill them fairly full as it does not bubble up or anything.

Bake in 350 oven for 10 – 15 minutes. Edges should be golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Sprinkle approximately 1/8 of a tsp of sugar on top of pudding in each cookie.

Caramelize sugar using kitchen torch, being careful not to hit the cookie itself as it will burn. (Unfortunately, using the broiler to try and caramelize the sugar will not work. It ends up with burned or very crunchy cookies.)

.

From bottom to top - plain, with sugar, and completed caramelized sugar

 These were very tasty. This is a fancy, lightly spiced cookie that you would never guess started out as a plain sugar cookie. The fun part is that you still get to hear a little bit of that trademark cracking as you break the sugar like you get with actual crème brulee. Only if you eat it the first day though. I found the sugar got a teeny tiny bit liquid-y after sitting in the fridge overnight and the cookie got a teeny tiny bit soggy. Not enough to ruin the cookie per se but enough that if you were serving them to a group of people trying to impress them with how cool you are in the kitchen then you would definitely want to serve them right away.

You could probably even wait until just before serving them to caramelize the sugar. Impress everyone with your amazing kitchen torch skills.

I think next on my “To Try” list will be Crème Brulee Cupcakes or perhaps a Crème Brulee Pie. I have seen video how-to’s for both ideas and they look pretty interesting.

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

So, as I posted a while back (see here for that blog), I am in love with creme brulee. Of course, I would have to be - it's probably the most calorie laden things on the planet.

My friend, Drew, got me addicted. Thanks Drew.

No, really.

I mean that.

Anyway, I finally got his recipe from him this weekend and decided to give it a try. In my head I had it worked out that it was going to be much more difficult to make. Nope, turns out it's pretty easy. Of course it is. If it were hard to make I wouldn't make it that often and, in turn, wouldn't eat it that often.

 Nope, it's pretty easy.

Fantastic.

Thanks again Drew.

In true Jo and Sue fashion though I did make a few changes to his recipe. I know, I know, why mess with perfection? Well, two reasons. (1.) I needed to make more than the recipe called for but didn't need to double it. I kind of 1 1/2'd it. (2.) My niece bought me Vanilla Beans as a gift and I have been dying to try them in something.

Here is our altered version:

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

Ingredients

4 cups whipping cream (heavy cream)

1 vanilla bean, split

1/2 cup sugar

6 egg yolks

Directions

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease 6 - 8 ramekins (4 or 6 oz).

Pour the cream into a saucepan and add vanilla bean. Over medium heat, slowly bring to almost boiling (the first sign of bubbles breaking the surface). Remove from heat, cover pan, and let sit for 15 minutes to let flavors infuse.

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks. Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar. Whip until color changes to light yellow.

Remove bean from cream. Scrape seeds out. Place seeds in yolk mixture. Set bean pod aside.

Slowly incorporate cream mixture into yolks, whisking constantly as you go. (You need to do this slowly or the eggs will curdle.)

Fill ramekins 3/4 full with mixture.

Prepare a bain marie (fancy schmancy term for water bath) by adding about 8 cups of hot water to a roasting pan. Immerse ramekins so that the water level is halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Be careful to avoid getting any water into your creme brulee.

Bake at 325 from 45 - 60 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Chill for at least 4 hours. (I made mine the afternoon before and they turned out great.)

Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp sugar

Sue's hubby, Rob, torching the sugar

Just before serving - place about 1 Tbsp of sugar evenly on top of each custard. Using a torch, melt the sugar to form a sugar crust on top. (If you don't have a torch, place under broiler. Place about 1 - 2 inches under broiler for about 20 - 30 seconds)

It took a couple of tries to get the whole torching thing down pat. You can see we went a little crazy with the 2 on top.

So, a couple of things I learned from making my first creme brulee:

(1) It's easy to make. Maybe too easy....

(2) Don't panic when you take them out of the oven after 50 minutes and they are still quite jiggly. They set up in the fridge.

(3) If you are using a HUGE propane torch then let your sister's husband do the dirty work.

(4) You can save the vanilla bean pod, let it dry a bit, then place it in a container of sugar. Let it sit in the sugar a week or two and you will have Vanilla Sugar. Great to use in baking!

I have discovered online that there is a bazillion different creme brulees out there. Ginger infused, lavender infused (eeew....), etc, etc.... My favorite sounding one was a Bailey's Creme Brulee. I think I may have to try that....

Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars

My friend’s husband has gotten me hooked on crème brulee. First let me just say “Thanks a lot Drew!” I mean that in a sarcastic and non-sarcastic way. Non-sarcastic: he made the best crème brulee ever and shared with me! Sarcastic: I am now addicted to crème brulee and NEED to have his recipe and will be gaining a million pounds because of this.

I am surprised that I love it so much. I can remember trying it many, many years ago and not even being able to eat more than a bite or two because the texture put me off and it was too “eggy”. Drew’s amazing crème brulee recipe has lead me to believe that way back when, when I tried it the first time, something had to have been horribly wrong with the recipe. Although I am not above believing my friend has kept her husband’s baking expertise hidden to keep us from stealing him away.

So, before you get too excited. This is NOT Drew’s crème brulee recipe. (I know…I know….sorry for getting you excited!) This is a crème brulee cheesecake bar. I saw this recipe on the Betty Crocker website today and had to try it. I mean, crème brulee CHEESECAKE…. How could I NOT make it? Besides, I have to harass Drew some more before he will (hopefully) share the recipe with me.

　

Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bar

Ingredients

1 pouch of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix

1 box (4 serving size) French vanilla instant pudding mix

2 Tbsp brown sugar, packed

½ cup butter, melted

3 tsp vanilla

2 eggs plus 3 egg yolks

2 x 8 oz pkgs of cream cheese

½ cup sour cream

½ cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup toffee bits, finely ground

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9-inch pan with parchment paper. Spray with cooking spray.

In large bowl, stir cookie mix, pudding mix, brown sugar, melted butter, 1 tsp of the vanilla and 1 whole egg until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom of pan.

(**NOTE ** I scooped out about 1/2 cup of dough because I felt the crust was too thick. It turned out just right, in my opinion, having done this.)

In small bowl, beat cream cheese, sour cream and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining whole egg, 3 egg yolks and remaining 2 tsp vanilla; beat until smooth. Spread over crust in pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set in center. Immediately sprinkle top with crushed toffee bits. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled. Cut into bars. Store covered in refrigerator.

.

It’s really, really tasty!. It didn’t really remind me a lot of crème brulee but there was a hint of it in there. The ground up toffee bits on top really were a nice touch. I was very excited to use them as this meant I got to fire up my Magic Bullet!

.

See, look how finely ground the toffee bits are. I love my Magic Bullet. (If you don't have a Magic Bullet then you can put the toffee into a pastic bag and roll it with a rolling pin to crush it.)

.

Plus, I was very, very, very excited because I got a new kitchen appliance to use. I have being dying to try it out. A new Kitchenaid mixer. I don’t know how I managed this long without one. (Technically I did have one given to me but then our mother gave it to Sue. It's okay though, I'm over it now, I have a shiny new one) 

Ooooooh…so pretty! I am going to need a bigger kitchen……