Cinnamon and Vanilla Crème Brûlée

Creme brulee is the ultimate dessert to many, but alas until I had made this did I realise this wasn't the case for Y. I had always thought that Y loves custard in any form, but it turned out that baked custard is the exception. So despite me very pleased with my first attempt at making Creme Brulee (it was meltingly smooth and rich), this dessert will be fondly documented and remembered here and it will be sometime I make this again... *doh*

Serves 2

Ingredients

1. 250ml double cream
2. 75ml full fat milk
3. Seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod
4. 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5. 3 egg yolks
6. 30g caster sugar, plus extra for making the caramel crust

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180c.
• Slice the vanilla pod and scape the seeds out. In a pan, add the vanilla seeds with the double cream and milk. Turn on a medium heat and stir gently. When you see bubbles appear around the edges, take the pan off the heat. Add in the ground cinnamon and stir.
• In the meantime, use a hand whisk to whisk 30g of caster sugar with the egg yolks for 2 minutes until pale and a bit thicker in texture.
• Pour the hot cream into the yolks, and stir gently with a whisk. Spoon off any foam on top.
• Use a beaked jug to pour the mixture over a fine sieve into two 200ml ramekins. Carefully place the two ramekins in a large baking tray and fill the baking tray with a few cups of hot water to form a water bath.
• Cover the top of the ramekins with foil.
• Bake for 30 minutes, and remove the foil carefully to check if they are softly set. They should wobble a bit in the middle. Let cool completely and place in the fridge for two hours to set.
• When ready to serve, sprinkle caster sugar (if you want extra vanilla scent, you can use vanilla sugar) on each ramekin and swirl gently so that the sugar coats the surface evenly. Use a fine water spritzer to spray some water on the sugar and then use a blow torch to caramelise it. Wait for 1 or 2 minutes and use a teaspoon to tap to see if the sugar has hardened. If you feel like a thicker crust, do a second layer of sugar and caramelise it again.