Crème-to-the-Brûlée

Vanilla crème brûlée, with strawberry, white chocolate spoons and a smooth salted caramel disc - topped with crunchy honeycomb pieces. 

Mouth watering yet?


I can't deny that this is one of my ultimate fave desserts. The baked creamy goodness that instantly melts on your tongue, exposing its vanilla flavour as it begins to tango with your tastebuds. Oh but the best part, the fun part, cracking the burnt crunchy sugar with your spoon as you begin to dig in. The smooth and the crisp become an unbeatable fusion of textures.

And it's no wonder it's sort of named after these textures - crème brûlée - 'burnt cream' in French, is the most delicious yet simple of desserts to make and here's how I made it:

Ingredients:

For the vanilla crème brûlée:
440ml double cream
100ml full fat milk
55g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod/3tsp good quality vanilla extract
5 egg yolks

White Chocolate spoons:
200g white chocolate chips

(Smooth) Salted Caramel Disc:
80g salted butter
75g soft light brown sugar
75g caster sugar
120ml cream
1/2tsp sea salt
Honeycomb pieces (bought)

Method:

• Combine the double cream, milk and vanilla extract (or a slit vanilla pod) into a saucepan and leave to the side.
• Separate the yolks from the whites and place in a mixing bowl, adding the caster sugar. The separating is probably the only tricky part to this - well I find it a pain to be honest! Then whisk the yolks and sugar together until pale and slightly fluffy.
• Bring the saucepan onto the heat until the sides begin to bubble a bit.
• Gradually with a hand whisk, stir in the hot cream mix into the egg. You'll see it will foam up once done, try get rid of all the foam with a large spoon.
• Pour into ramekins, jars or a big dish and place these in a ban marie filled with boiled water about 1.5-2cm high and pop it into the oven for 30-35 minutes.
• You want the crème brûlée to be slightly wobbly in the middle and not completely set. Place these in the fridge and scatter teaspoon of caster sugar on the top surface and then blowtorch until its burnt! Do this closer to the serving time and pop 'em back in the fridge.

And that's pretty much it! For the additional extras and decoration:
To make the chocolate spoon:

• Melt white chocolate in a bowl over simmering water (water bath) until runny and fill up the spoon moulds, placing them in the fridge.

The smooth salted caramel disc:

• Melt the butter and sugars in a saucepan for 3 minutes or until dissolved, swirling it from time to time.
• Add the cream and sea salt and swirl again - get those hips shaking! I mean, use a wooden spoon to stir the sugar mixture…
• Once amalgamated, taste to check if there's enough salt and then pour into a jug to set!

This makes quite a bit, so you can store it up to a week to use for other nommy desserts. Or you know just to eat with a spoon instead of yer good ol' Ben and Jerry's!

Make a circle onto a serving plate, (I used a cookie cutter) and top with honeycomb pieces. Okay so, I had recently bought some ready made ones from Lakeland and used these, but if you want the homemade recipe check out my Get Loose: Chocolate and Honeycomb Mousse recipe!

That's about it! I added chocolate dots around each component to finish off, as well as a strawberry in each jar, as this creamy concotion goes well with berries and maybe there were some growing in my garden…

Cute little desserts, don't you think?


Dainty Cook x

Simply Strawberry Gelato (and a bit of Italy).

Simply Strawberry gelato.

When I think of gelato I instantaneously refer back to my lovely memories of Italy. Prior to my first visit in 2009, I heard a great deal about their gelatos by many who had been there. My dad would go every year for business and would always return praising their food, particularly their creamy confections.

Growing up with an absolute love for ice cream, this was music to my ears. I had to see what the fuss was all about. It was a must.

Daddy agreed to take the family and off we went, planning to visit various cities in Italia! Everyone was excited as we decided to head off to Venice, Rome, Florence and Pisa, thinking about all the things we were going to see and do. Yet there was a slightly younger me, who as thrilled as I was on the concept of an amazing holiday: could only ponder on whether my frozen friend would live up to my expectations over there. I mean you know, people exaggerate and have different tastes...and hey I love my ice cream!

Strolling along the Venetian streets, the gelato was one of the first things I ate. The initial verdict? Very tasty, but it lacked the 'wow factor' I believed I would experience.

We then went to another gelateria.

Yup. It was like I stepped right into heaven. Uber creamy, super flavoursome, extremely nom. My taste buds went frantic, a huge smile appeared on my face and my heart was content. Could it get any better than that?!

Throughout that trip we visited various gelaterias each day. We learnt that some places were good and others were OUTSTANDING. It was a matter of finding the right places, identified by the huge flavours some had. Just looking at the vast array of these was like staring at a colourful painting. Mesmerising.

Gelateria in Rome.

Anyway, enough about my trip. The reason why I thought I'd add that anecdote is because, sadly, English ice cream does not live up to that standard. This is why I make my own!

So what is the difference between 'gelato' and 'ice cream' or is it the same thing?! Well yes and no. While the word gelato is used by Italians for ice cream, there are diversities. Gelato has less fat, (so more milk than cream compared to ice creams) and less air, so it doesn't crystallise while frozen. I'll explain that better later, but for now, the recipe!

Ingredients:
300g hulled strawberries
2 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
200ml whole milk
100ml double cream

Method:

•  Remove the strawberry stems and chop them in half or quarters.

• Place them in a blender or food processor adding the icing sugar and lemon juice and blend until it has turned into a red purée. I'd check the sweetness here, if it needs more icing sugar feel free to add some more as sweet as you'd like it.

• Get your ice cream machine out* -- I own a Magimix Gelato Chef 2200. Amazing machine with a built in freezer so you can practically eat it straightaway! Churn the purée until think, being careful not to over churn it.

• Slowly add in the milk while the machine is on and then add the cream and churn until a thick gelato consistency.

* If you don't have a machine, don't worry you can still make ice-cream! Instead, freeze the purée until thick (not frozen) and mix in the milk. Then whip the cream, fold it into the purée mix and freeze to a gelato like consitency. To stop it from crystallising and turning icy, after every hour or so, keep folding or whipping the mixture to let out air and break the particles.

Another difference between the two is that Gelato is served at a slightly warmer temperature and isn't so watery as it melts. This is crucial. I froze mine for too long so ended up being like ice cream, but all you need to do is leave it out. I on the other hand, couldn't wait to eat it in this super hot weather! Also, I think next time I'd use a lot more strawberries to get more flavour and colour. Nonetheless, it was still delicious and refreshing :)

The finished product!

I put mine in wine glasses, added fresh strawberries and a chocolate piece (made from ganache) to give that 'showstopper' feel!

How can you not resist to make some in this current heatwave? 

I went back to Italy last year and I really could not get enough of this stuff. Who else agrees that they are a-may-zinggg?! Lemme know folks!

Ciao!

The Dainty Cook x