Coffee Creme Brulee is caffeinated dessert perfection with creamy coffee- infused custard topped with a layer of crunchy caramelized sugar.
A restaurant menu staple that’s easy to make at home!
A basic with endless options
Creme brulee is a longstanding favorite dessert not only because of the way it WOWs guests, but also because there are so many flavor options! Once you learn the technique you can play around with all sorts of different flavors.
There are so many other options!
- Top the traditional vanilla custard with fresh berries, berry sauce, stone fruit or butterscotch.
- Flavor the creamy custard base by infusing the cream with herbs like fresh mint or lavender. Mix in fresh berries, bananas or chocolate.
- Substitute almond milk or egg nog for the cream in the base.
- Or switch up the flavors of the caramelized sugar topping! Try cranberry or ginger sugar.
Ingredients
- ½ gallon heavy whipping cream (not regular whipping cream, 40% ‘classic heavy’)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 dozen eggs
- 3 packets of instant coffee (I prefer Starbucks VIA)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup course sugar (brown sugar, raw sugar, sparkling sugar, etc.)
Step by step instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a saucepan over medium heat combine the cream, vanilla and instant coffee.
- Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. After mixture simmers remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, separate egg yolks from whites. Set whites aside for another use.
- Whisk the sugar and salt into the egg yolks until they are pale yellow. Find 12 shallow oven safe custard dishes and place on a large baking sheet or baking dish. Bring some water to a boil.
- Whisk ⅓ of the cooled cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Pour in and combine the remaining cream. Once combined, pour custard into prepared dishes and place in preheated oven on baking sheet.
- Pour boiling water into the baking sheet until it comes half way up the custard dishes.
- Bake for 45 minutes to one hour or until custard is firm but still a little wiggly.
- Carefully remove custards from baking pan and place on a cooling rack to rest until cool to the touch.
- Cover with plastic wrap being careful to not let plastic touch the tops of the custards. Chill for at least one hour to set.
- When ready to serve preheat broiler to high. Sprinkle coarse sugar in an even layer to cover custard.
- Broil until the sugar is smoking, nicely browned and evenly melted. Carefully remove from broiler.
- Enjoy!
How to caramelize
Use the oven broiler to finish a batch of creme brulee. If finishing a single dessert at a time opt to caramelize with a handheld torch instead. A torch leaves a great distinction between the warm crunchy sugar and the cool firm custard.
Make ahead
Creme brulee can be cooked and refrigerated up to 3 days in advance. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and bring to room temperature then caramelize immediately before serving.
Or refrigerate already caramelized Coffee Creme Brulee and enjoy the crunchy sugar top anytime!
Yield
This recipe yields 12 standard size custards but can easily be halved for a smaller batch.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ gallon heavy whipping cream 40% classic, also equal to 2 quarts, 8 cups, or 4 pints
- 1 teasp vanilla extract
- 3 packets instant coffee Starbucks VIA brand preferred
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ⅛ teasp salt
- 12 large egg yolks
- ½ cup coarse sugar raw sugar, brown sugar, sparkling sugar, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees
- In a saucepan over medium heat combine the cream, vanilla and instant coffee.
- Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Then remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk the sugar and salt into egg yolks until they are pale yellow.
- Place 12 shallow custard dishes on a large baking sheet or baking dish.
- Put some water on to boil
- Whisk ⅓ of the cooled cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Then, combine the remaining cream.
- Once combined, pour custard into prepared dishes and place in preheated oven.
- Pour boiling water into the baking dish until it comes half way up the custard dishes.
- Bake for 45 minutes to one hour or until custard is firm but still a little wiggly.
- Chill for at least one hour.
- Top with coarse sugar in an even layer and place under broiler until sugar melts and bubbles
Nutrition
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