Lavender Crème Brulee brings together the crunchy melted sugar topped custard of a standard crème brulee with the subtly floral, spring-like flavor of lavender.
9teaspoonsbrown sugar for topping, approx. 1 ½ teaspoons per serving
Instructions
Heat oven to 325°F. Place 6 (4-oz) ceramic ramekins in 13x9-inch pan.
Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise, then scrape out seeds. Place seeds and pod in a small saucepan with cream, skim milk and sugar and heat until just below boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat, add lavender and let sit until mostly cool.
In small bowl, slightly beat egg yolks with wire whisk. Add cooled cream mixture and stir until well blended. Strain into a pouring vessel. Pour cream mixture evenly into ramekins. The lavender buds will strain out, but I like to add some back (6-12/dish) for extra flavor and texture.
Carefully place pan with ramekins in oven. While in oven, pour enough boiling water into pan, being careful not to splash water into ramekins, until water covers half to two-thirds of the height of the ramekins.
Bake 25 to 40 minutes until the center of the custard is set but jiggly (it’s okay if sides are jiggly too as long as the center is set)
Carefully remove ramekins—I found that lifting with a hamburger turner worked best. Refrigerate until chilled, approximately 2 hours (longer is okay if you wish).
Sprinkle about 1 1/2 teaspoons of brown sugar over each chilled custard. Place under pre-heated broiler to brown. Refrigerate until rechilled, 1-2 hours
Notes
This will keep a few hours in the refrigerator but the topping will become soft if left overnight. Should this occur, you can blot away the moisture with a lint free cloth, add new brown sugar and broil again to recrisp.
I am not a health professional and nutrition data is calculated programatically. Accuracy may vary with product selection, calculator accuracy, etc. Consult a professional for the best information.