Creme Brulee

For Jason's birthday I used one of my birthday presents to make him his favorite dessert. My parents got me a creme brulee set (complete with blowtorch) for my birthday and I was excited to try it out.

I made Vanila Bean Creme Brulee from Cooking Light. It made a lot, and was a little liquidy and took a long time to set. I think next time, I'll use less milk.

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 crème brûlée)

* 2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
* 3/4 cup nonfat dry milk
* 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
* 1/2 cup sugar, divided
* 4 large egg yolks
* Dash of salt

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Heat mixture over medium heat to 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge (do not boil), stirring occasionally. Remove milk mixture from heat. Cover and steep 30 minutes. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into milk mixture; reserve bean for another use.
Preheat oven to 300°.

Combine 1/4 cup sugar, egg yolks, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk.
(Reserve egg whites for breakfast in nearby bowl)

Gradually add milk mixture to egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids.

Divide the mixture evenly among 4 (4-ounce) ramekins, custard cups, or shallow baking dishes. Place ramekins in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan; add hot water to pan to a depth of 1 inch.
Bake at 300° for 25 minutes or until center barely moves when ramekin is touched (NOTE:This took about 45 minutes actually). Remove ramekins from the pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

Sift 1 tablespoon sugar evenly over each custard. Holding a kitchen blow torch about 2 inches from the top of each custard, heat the sugar, moving the torch back and forth, until sugar is completely melted and caramelized (about 1 minute). Serve crème brûlée immediately or within 1 hour.
With this recipe, I filled up all 4 of the little white ramekins that came in the set, plus 2 more. Yeah, I think there was too much milk.