This classic of French cuisine needs no introduction. It’s distinguished by the warm, crisp caramel on top, followed by the cool, smooth cream underneath. This contrast in textures and temperatures is what makes it so charming.

A traditional version

I’ve chosen the original vanilla version here, but crème brûlée can be made with a variety of flavors, such as tonka bean, pistachio, lavender, coffee, cinnamon, gingerbread, tea, chocolate, rose, licorice, orange blossom, anise, maple, saffron, and cardamom.

One important point: for this crème brûlée to be truly enjoyable, the caramel must be piping hot, and the cream very cold. There’s only one way to achieve this: a kitchen torch. Indeed, only a torch will allow you to obtain a hot, crisp caramel without warming the cream underneath. If you don’t have a broiler and choose to put the custard under the oven broiler, you’ll reheat and cook it again, which you absolutely must avoid. If you have no other option, wait until the broiler is very hot before placing the custards on it, and position them as close to it as possible, with the oven door slightly ajar, keeping a close eye on them.

But if you want to achieve perfect crème brûlée, I recommend getting a kitchen torch. They’re easy to find now, and very affordable (less than 10 euros). They don’t take up much space and are very simple to use. The torch is also very practical because it allows you to achieve even caramelization almost instantly.

On the other hand, if, like me, you love a caramel topping, I recommend using large, shallow, oval ramekins: this will allow you to achieve a thin layer of vanilla cream and a larger surface area of ​​caramel (that’s how I like it…).

But if you prefer the “lots of cream and not much caramel” version, choose small, tall, round ramekins and fill them completely.
These creams need to be made in advance, as they require 45 minutes of baking time and 2 hours of chilling.
This is an extremely easy recipe that requires minimal equipment: a small saucepan, a mixing bowl, and a magic spoon (or a small whisk)—that’s all!

Here is the recipe from Pierre Hermé’s Larousse of Desserts.

INSTRUCTIONS: (for 4 crème brûlées):
3 egg yolks
220ml heavy cream
40g sugar (including 1 packet of vanilla sugar for me)
1 vanilla bean (or vanilla powder works very well in a pinch)

• granulated sugar for caramelizing

Preheat the oven to 100°C (210°F) convection.
In a small saucepan, bring the cream and vanilla to a boil. Remove from the heat and let it infuse for half an hour. Ideally, let the vanilla infuse in the cream overnight! This is a trick from Michalak; it’s how he makes his pastry cream. It intensifies the vanilla flavor tenfold!
Lightly whisk the egg yolks and sugar together with a small hand whisk. Add the hot cream, stirring gently but without creating foam.

Place the cream in four ramekins and bake for 45 minutes (once cooked, the creams should be slightly wobbly in the center, but not runny).
Let cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate (they must be very cold).
When ready to serve, sprinkle the creams with a VERY THIN layer of powdered sugar and caramelize with a kitchen torch. The layer must be extremely thin for a pleasant taste; otherwise, you’ll end up with a caramel that’s too thick! The original recipe calls for brown sugar for the caramel, but I was disappointed because the caramel wasn’t thin enough. With powdered sugar, the result was perfect!
Simply delicious…