Green Tea Crème Brûlée

Difficulty: Easy             Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients

• 450 g heavy cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 70 g white granulated sugar
• ½ vanilla bean
• 1 teaspoon green tea powder
• 1 to 2 drops green food coloring
• Boiling water

Procedure

Pre-heat the oven at 325° F.

Place the heavy cream in a pan over medium heat. Scrape the caviar out of the vanilla bean. Add it to the heavy cream along with the bean itself. Once it has reached boiling point {212° F}, turn off the heat and remove the vanilla bean {not the caviar}.

While the heavy cream is getting warm, in a stainless steel bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until pale {blanchir}. Using a strainer, sift the green tea over the egg mixture and continue to combine. Pour the hot heavy cream over the egg-sugar mixture {temper} little by little, stirring constantly with a fork. Add a drop of green food coloring and stir to combine. Strain the mixture through a fine chinois into a bowl. Skim the foam from the surface.

Fill the ramekins with the custard evenly and arrange them in a sheet pan. Place the sheet pan in the middle rack in the oven and add boiling water until it comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The custards are done when the center no longer moves.

Crème Brûlée is served well chilled.

Glossary

• Blanchir: When egg yolks and sugar are whisked together until it becomes very pale in color.
• Chinois: Conical sieve with an extremely fine mesh.
• Temper: Process in which the yolks are brought to temperature gradually to avoid scrambling them.