I love the Pioneer Woman, she is just great…if you don’t know who I’m talking about 1) what rock are you living under, 2) because of her I got to use a torch and 3) you
need to check her out: http://thepioneerwoman.com/. She is a city girl who fell in love with a rancher and found herself on a cattle ranch in the middle of rural Oklahoma, she started out as a food blogger and now has an empire (including a Cookbook) and gives away cool stuff often through her cooking blog. So back to the Cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, is awesome…and amazing and I encourage everyone to get it and read it immediately because it is entertaining and wonderful and the food is very tasty. The section that this recipe came from was Cowgirl Food so naturally I would find a common ground with it, however I am not a Crème Brulee person but a good friend of mine who had a very special birthday recently is so I tried my luck and thankfully she didn’t let me down it was a complete hit!
The recipe isn’t on her website so I’ve added it below. I will say that my ramekins must be very small because it says it makes 6 servings but mine produced more like 15…so judge accordingly.
PW Crème Brulee
1 qt heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla
10 egg yolks
¾ cup plus 6 tbs superfine sugar (I just used regular sugar and had no problems)
1. Preheat oven to 325
2. First, pour the cream into a saucepan over med-low heat. Add the vanilla. Bring almost to a boil, then turn off the heat.
3. Place the egg yolks in a large bowl and add the ¾ cup sugar. With a whisk, mix the eggs and sugar together. Now, break out your elbow grease and take a deep breath. You’re going to need to whisk the mixture like crazy for a good 3 to 4 minutes, until it’s very light yellow in color.
4. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl. Pour the hot cream into the bowl through the strainer. This will filter out the tiny bits of vanilla bean. (Note: I used pure vanilla and skipped this step)
5. To temper the egg mixture, very slowly drizzle 1 cup of the hot cream into the egg/sugar mixture, whisking constantly and vigorously to prevent the eggs from cooking. Continue adding the rest of the hot cream to the bowl very slowly, whisking constantly. You can add the cream a little more rapidly as the mixture warms.
6. Place 6 ramekins on a rimmed bakins sheet and ladle in the custard until the ramekins are ¾ full. Place the pan inside the oven, then pour water into the baking sheet until it reaches halfway up the ramekins.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the custard is set but not brown. (Note: since my ramekins were smaller mine only cooked for 30 minutes so watch them closely) Watch carefully to avoid browning!
8. Remove the ramekins from the pan and allow to cool. Refrigerate the custards, covered, for at least 2 hours or overnight.
9. When you are ready to serve dessert, sprinkle the top of each custard generously with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Use a kitchen torch to burn the sugar to a crisp, working quickly to avoid cooking the custard below. Serve immediately!
need to check her out: http://thepioneerwoman.com/. She is a city girl who fell in love with a rancher and found herself on a cattle ranch in the middle of rural Oklahoma, she started out as a food blogger and now has an empire (including a Cookbook) and gives away cool stuff often through her cooking blog. So back to the Cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, is awesome…and amazing and I encourage everyone to get it and read it immediately because it is entertaining and wonderful and the food is very tasty. The section that this recipe came from was Cowgirl Food so naturally I would find a common ground with it, however I am not a Crème Brulee person but a good friend of mine who had a very special birthday recently is so I tried my luck and thankfully she didn’t let me down it was a complete hit!
The recipe isn’t on her website so I’ve added it below. I will say that my ramekins must be very small because it says it makes 6 servings but mine produced more like 15…so judge accordingly.
PW Crème Brulee
1 qt heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla
10 egg yolks
¾ cup plus 6 tbs superfine sugar (I just used regular sugar and had no problems)
1. Preheat oven to 325
2. First, pour the cream into a saucepan over med-low heat. Add the vanilla. Bring almost to a boil, then turn off the heat.
3. Place the egg yolks in a large bowl and add the ¾ cup sugar. With a whisk, mix the eggs and sugar together. Now, break out your elbow grease and take a deep breath. You’re going to need to whisk the mixture like crazy for a good 3 to 4 minutes, until it’s very light yellow in color.
4. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl. Pour the hot cream into the bowl through the strainer. This will filter out the tiny bits of vanilla bean. (Note: I used pure vanilla and skipped this step)
5. To temper the egg mixture, very slowly drizzle 1 cup of the hot cream into the egg/sugar mixture, whisking constantly and vigorously to prevent the eggs from cooking. Continue adding the rest of the hot cream to the bowl very slowly, whisking constantly. You can add the cream a little more rapidly as the mixture warms.
6. Place 6 ramekins on a rimmed bakins sheet and ladle in the custard until the ramekins are ¾ full. Place the pan inside the oven, then pour water into the baking sheet until it reaches halfway up the ramekins.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the custard is set but not brown. (Note: since my ramekins were smaller mine only cooked for 30 minutes so watch them closely) Watch carefully to avoid browning!
8. Remove the ramekins from the pan and allow to cool. Refrigerate the custards, covered, for at least 2 hours or overnight.
9. When you are ready to serve dessert, sprinkle the top of each custard generously with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Use a kitchen torch to burn the sugar to a crisp, working quickly to avoid cooking the custard below. Serve immediately!
Here is what mine looked like 
fresh out of the oven…soooo pretty!
LOVE HER!
Pink chunk 
Large chunk 