Honey-Lavender Creme Brulee

By GadgetGirl

This recipe was a winner of the Frei Brothers Winery contest and published in Bon Appetit Magazine, Holiday edition 2014.

(pairs with Frei Brothers Russian River Sauvignon Blanc)

Ingredients

• 3 cups of heavy cream
• 1 Tbsp. dried lavender buds
• 1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved
• 5 Tbsp. sugar, divided
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 5 large egg yolks
• Special equipment: 6 ,6-7 oz. round ramekins, a kitchen torch
• Note: I substituted lavender honey and our own Tahitian Vanilla lavender sugar to skip steeping and straining the lavender buds. I did heat the cream with an extra vanilla bean which was easy to remove without straining.

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 70mins
Adapted from lavendergreen.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In medium saucepan, bring cream, lavender and vanilla bean and seeds to simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; allow to steep 10 min. Strain mixture into a bowl.

In a bowl of a stand mixer, combine 3 Tbsp. sugar, honey and yolks over low speed until well combined and starting to change color, about 2 min. Slowly stream in milk mixture; mix until just combined (to avoid becoming foamy)

Place ramekins in high-sided baking pan’ divide cream mixture evenly among them. Fill baking pan with water until it goes 3/4 up the side of the ramekins. Bake 50-55 min. until mixture is set, but still wobbly.

Remove ramekins from pan; place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days. To serve, remove from refrigerator and keep at room temperature for 20 min. Sprinkle custards with 2 Tbsp. sugar. Using kitchen torch, melt sugar evenly until deep brown and crunchy.

Chill time: 2 hrs up to two days