Recipe: Honey Creme Brulee

[Halcyon]

Makes 6

Ingredients:
100 ml full cream milk
600 ml cream
6 egg yolks
30 g caster or super-fine sugar
40 ml honey (use the best you can find)
1 fresh vanilla bean

You'll also need:
6 ceramic ramekins
Brulee torch (I just use a butane torch from the hardware store)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 140°C. Cream the egg yolks and sugar together (i.e.: whisk until the mixture turns slightly lighter in colour).

2. Place milk and cream into a small saucepan, slit the vanilla bean down the middle lengthwise and place into pot. Gently heat the mixture to below simmering point (no more than 80°C). Once it's hot, turn off the heat and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes to cool slightly and allow flavours to infuse.

3. Once the milk/cream mixture has cooled slightly, remove the vanilla bean and scrape any remaining seeds from the inside using a teaspoon, add those to the mixture and discard the pod. Slowly whisk the cream mixture into the egg yolks and sugar (the cream should not be hot enough to start cooking/scrambling the egg!). You should end up with a uniform mixture like a very runny custard. Fold the honey into this mixture.

4. Pour the mixture into ramekins and place into a pre-heated water bath (I just use a baking pan with boiling water). Cover tightly with aluminium foil and place into oven. Bake for about 35-40 minutes. Remove the foil and give the ramekins a gentle shake, it should be slightly firmed up with a bit of a "skin" on top, but still quite runny (around the consistency of a runny custard). If it's still too liquid, continue baking uncovered for a further 15-20 minutes.

5. Once baked, place the ramekins in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours to chill completely. Don't worry if they still appear too runny, they will firm up as they cool. Once cooled and ready to be served, sprinkle a thin layer of sugar on top and brulee with the blow torch to form a caramelised layer (repeated if you want a thicker layer of sugar). Allow the layer of sugar to completely cool and harden before serving.

Credit for this recipe goes to Simon Bryant, former executive chef at Hilton Hotel in Adelaide, Australia. I have adapted it slightly for my tastes.

[carmine]

WOW I prepared it following slavishly your recipe and it turned out in a really good dish. Thanks for this Halcyon. https://www.leavingcard.com/gb/viewpdf/1612003557286nL40ITZ20020/xrslvr1612003701881.pdf
A very good engineering approach to cooking! 

[Halcyon]

I'm glad you enjoyed. I find the honey just makes better by orders of magnitude. The hardest part is getting the texture right. It's easy to under or over-cook the custard and ovens vary so it may require some trial-and-error to get it 100% right. But don't worry, the flavour will still be there even if you stuff up the cooking time.

[edavid]

I think turbinado sugar (sold as "Sugar in the Raw" in the US) gives the best results on top.  Much easier than superfine.