Tonka bean crème brûlée

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 400 ml cream
• 150 ml whole milk, 3.8% fat
• 85 g sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 lemon(s), peel thereof, untreated
• 1 tonka bean(s)
• Sugar, brown and white for caramelizing

Instructions

Working time approx. 5 minutes; Rest time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

from France 1991

Using a mixer/hand blender/whisk/egg beater (whichever you have), combine the cream, milk, and sugar. Just mix, don’t whip! You want to avoid any foam. Add the eggs, salt, and lemon zest, and stir in the finely ground tonka bean (I grate it with a nutmeg grater, but I’ve also used a Microplan grater, which works great too). Let it stand and infuse for at least 30 minutes. Then stir the mixture again (because of the tonka bean) and divide it into 4-6 ovenproof dishes (I use 5 dishes for this amount). The most important thing: The mixture should set while standing in a water bath in the oven. If it gets too hot or takes too long, the mixture can curdle. No fan-assisted heating! Conventional heating is better. Preheat the oven to 130°C (260°F). Use an oven thermometer if necessary! Place the molds in a deep baking tray (the oven’s drip tray is best) and fill with boiling water so that the molds are two-thirds submerged. This is important. Let them set in the oven on the middle rack for about 45 minutes. When removing them, make sure no water spills into the molds. The creams in the molds will still be quite soft/wobbly; this is normal. They will firm up when cooled, preferably overnight. To serve, sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of white granulated sugar over the cream and caramelize with a blowtorch. Brown sugar burns faster, and powdered sugar also burns faster and becomes bitter, so it’s less suitable. I now do it this way: after caramelizing with white sugar, I sprinkle half a teaspoon of brown sugar directly onto the liquid caramel and caramelize it a little more, as I like the taste of brown sugar. With 4 portions, each portion contains 550 kcal.