Dessert Recipes
Peaches and Cream Brûlée
Instead of baking cream in a dish, gently scoop out fresh peaches, fill with a creamy custard, and sprinkle with sugar before browning with a kitchen torch. That first crack of caramelized sugar signals many good bites to come.
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large egg yolks
- 6 whole ripe peaches
- 4 to 6 teaspoons granulated sugar
Instructions
- Place cream in a medium saucepan. Split vanilla bean in half lengthwise, scrape in seeds, and add bean pod; bring to a simmer, and turn off heat.
- Combine 1/3 cup sugar and egg yolks in a mixing bowl, whisking until smooth. Slowly add warm cream to egg mixture, whisking constantly. Set bowl containing egg mixture over a saucepan of simmering water. (Do not allow bowl to touch water.) Whisk mixture constantly about 9 minutes or until it reaches 180 degrees F and coats back of spoon.
- Remove bowl from heat, and place in an ice bath, stirring occasionally with a spatula; allow mixture to cool completely. (Or cool to room temperature, cover, and chill overnight.) Mixture will thicken slightly while cooling.
- Cut tops off peaches, and carefully hollow them out, discarding pit. (Slice a thin portion from bottoms, if needed, to help peaches sit upright.) Fill each peach with about 1/4 cup custard, smoothing so mixture is even with top of peach. Refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 3 hours.
- Sprinkle a thin layer of sugar onto each custard-filled peach; caramelize sugar using a kitchen torch, keeping torch moving for even coloring.
- Serve within 1 hour of browning sugar.
Notes
This custard would also be good in individual bowls, topped with bananas or other fruit, and sprinkled with sugar before browning.
Attribution
Cottage Living magazine - June 2005