CREME CATALANA
Serves 6, Ready in 4+ hours (including cooling time)
Creme Catalana
The Spanish version of crème brûlée features the same silky texture of custard with the crunch of a caramelised sugar topping. It’s slightly lighter than crème brûlée through the use of milk rather than heavy cream and with the zesty hint of citrus from a little orange peel.
This dessert is also gluten free but definitely doesn’t hold back on being rich so it’s perfect if you’re looking for an indulgent, gluten free treat.
It doesn’t take long to prepare this, the only lengthy part is waiting for it to set in the fridge for a few hours so it’s best to make this ahead of time and then finish off the sugar right before serving.
INGREDIENTS
500ml whole milk
Peel of 1x orange
1x cinnamon stick
1x teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1x teaspoon cornflour
8x egg yolks
95g sugar, plus extra to serve
You will also need a cook’s blowtorch to caramelise the sugar on top.
Creme Catalana
METHOD
Put the milk, orange peel, cinnamon and vanilla bean paste into a pan and bring it to the boil.
Remove the pan from the heat and leave the milk to infuse for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together until they are become combined and pale yellow.
Strain the milk through a sieve, discarding anything you catch.
Return the milk to the heat. Just before it comes to a gentle boil, add the egg mix and whisk quickly until it thickens into a custard.
Remove the custard from the heat and pour into ceramic ramekins.
When they have cooled a little, cover the tops with baking paper so that no skins form on top of the custard while it’s cooling.
Cool completely, then transfer to the fridge and leave them to set for around 4 hours.
When you’re ready to serve, remove the custards from the fridge, sprinkle the top of them with a little sugar and heat with a cook’s blowtorch to caramelise the sugar.