Pumpkin Crème Brûlée
Delicious creme brulee made with pumpkin and fall spices.
Servings: 4 pumpkins
Ingredients
- 4 (4) Mini Pumpkins, optional - you can also just use ramekins.
- 480 ml (2 cups) Heavy Cream, (double cream in the UK)
- 66 g (⅓ cup) Granulated Sugar, (caster sugar) plus extra for topping
- 4 (4) Large Egg Yolks
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Vanilla Extract
- 245 g (1 cup) Pumpkin Puree
- ½ teaspoon (½ teaspoon) Ground Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon (½ teaspoon) Ground Ginger
- ¼ teaspoon (¼ teaspoon) Salt
Instructions
Prepare the Pumpkins
- If you want to make this recipe in ramekins instead of mini pumpkins, skip ahead to the next section.
- Find the point of the pumpkin where the shape starts to curve in towards the top. Using a large, sharp knife, make a flat and level cut all the way through to cut the top of the pumpkin off.
- Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and pulp from inside the pumpkins and hollow them out. Do the same with the 'lids'.
- Place the pumpkin 'bowls' in a deep roasting dish, ready for the custard. Leave the lids aside for now.
Make the Creme Brulee
- Preheat the oven to 325°F / 160°C (140° fan-assisted).
- Put the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and gently whisk until combined.
- In a saucepan, heat the heavy cream and vanilla over medium-low heat.
- Once the cream starts to feel warm to the touch, pour a small amount of it into the egg yolk/sugar mixture and whisk together.
- Continue to drizzle the warm cream into the egg yolks slowly, whisking as you go, until it has all been added. It's important to do this gradually so you don't scramble the eggs.
- Once all the cream has been added, pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan.
- Add the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger and salt to the custard mixture and continue to heat on medium-low, stirring the whole time with the whisk to prevent burning.
- Once you see the custard start to simmer, remove from the heat and transfer the custard into a jug. (If you have any lumps in the custard, you can just pass it through a sieve first.
- Pour the pumpkin custard into the mini pumpkin bowls, filling them all the way to the top.
- Put the creme brulees into the oven on the middle rack. Before closing the door, make a water bath by pouring water into the roasting dish until it reaches about halfway up the pumpkins. Be careful not to splash any onto the custard.
- Bake for 20 - 30 minutes depending on the size of your pumpkins. When they are done the outside should be set but the middle will still be quite wobbly.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the water bath. Once they are cool enough to touch, remove them from the water and put them in the fridge until ready to serve. At this point, you can put the little lids back on if you like.
Torching the brulees
- Right before serving, sprinkle an even layer of sugar on top of the baked custard. The layer of sugar should be thick enough that no custard can be seen through it, but not too thick.
- Turn your kitchen blowtorch on and use the very tip of the flame to lightly dance over the top of the sugar, letting it bubble and caramelise. Don't stay in any one spot for too long, but don't be afraid to let it burn, as that's the whole point of this dessert!
- Make sure you brulee the whole layer of sugar, you should be left with a beautiful, glassy, caramelised topping. Serve immediately.
Notes
Cream - use heavy cream, heavy whipping cream, or double cream. It must have at least 36% fat content.
Pumpkin Puree - make sure you use pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
Don't overbake your creme brulees in the oven, if you do the custard will curdle and will end up more lumpy than creamy.