Pumpkin Spice Crème Brûlée
Serves 7
5 mins prep
65 mins cook
240 mins Resting Time
310 mins total
Real pumpkin and fall spices flavor a rich custard base topped with a hard shell of caramelized torched sugar served in a mini pumpkin.
2 servings
Pumpkin spice crème brûlée
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Do ahead
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Tear off sheets of foil, scrunch them up into rods and form into rings that the pumpkins will sit on. Place these on top of a large baking sheet with a lip spaced out 3-inches apart.
Crème brûlée without the caramelized sugar can be made days in advance and stored in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Make the custard
Add the heavy cream and vanilla bean paste to a medium saucepan. Cook until simmering (185°F-205°F), then remove from heat.
In a large heat-proof bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together with a whisk or beaters until lightened in color and the mixture leaves a trail when the whisk is pulled up. Whisk in the pumpkin, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
Slowly dribble in some of the warmed cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture, while whisking constantly. Continue this until all of the cream mixture is in the egg yolk mixture and whisked together thoroughly.
Divide this mixture evenly between the pumpkins. Do not overfill. Place the pumpkins on the prepared foil collars on the baking sheet. Fill the baking sheet with boiling or very hot water up to the top of the foil collars, but not touching the pumpkins.
Bake
Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour 10 minutes, or until centers are barely set and jiggly. The pumpkins insulate the custard so it bakes much slower than crème brûlée made in ramekins. If making this in ramekins, only bake for about 30 minutes. Cool completely. Refrigerate for at least four hours and up to a couple of days.
Brûlée
When ready to serve, sprinkle a very thin layer of granulated or caster sugar on top of the crème brûlée. Torch** this layer until melted and lightly caramelized. Sprinkle another even thin layer of sugar on top of this layer. Torch again until melted and lightly caramelized. I like to do 2-3 thin layers to achieve an even, crackable caramel.
