Crème Brûlée W/ Raspberry-brown Sugar Crust

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 3 cups whipping cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons seedless raspberry jam (other flavors would work too)
• 16 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 pint fresh raspberry

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• 2 put your cream in a saucepan on medium high and bring it to a simmer. you're looking for the little bubbles to form on the outside of the pan just before the cream starts to boil. this will take a few minutes. while you are waiting, you can work on your egg mixture.
• 3 put egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl. with an electric mixer, blend for 2 to 3 minutes until well mixed and smooth. add vanilla and the salt. mix until combined.
• 4 turn cream off. do not let it boil or boil over. mix the hot cream into the eggs but don’t just pour it all in at once or the eggs will scramble. add just a couple of tablespoons of the hot cream to the egg mixture. with the mixer running on low, add a little more. after you've done this three times, you can start to add your cream in a steady slow stream. keep the mixer running until you have all of the cream mixed inches.
• 5 now take your 9 x 13 pan and put all of your ramekins in it. fill the pan with enough water to come halfway up the sides of the containers. no more than that. put a few raspberries in the bottom of each ramekin. then carefully pour the cream mixture over the raspberries, up to about one-third of an inch from the top of the container--maybe even one-half of an inch, depending on how steady your hands are…because you now have to transfer this to the oven.
• 6 transfer the baking pan and its contents carefully into the oven. just try not to get water into the custard-filled containers. that would be bad.
• 7 bake the custards for one hour. they will be light brown on top and "set." carefully remove the whole pan from the oven. put them on a cookie sheet or tray and put them in your refrigerator to cool. you need to leave them in there at least 3 hours to firm up. you can even leave them overnight. if you leave them overnight, cover them with plastic wrap after they have cooled.
• 8 when you want to serve. preheat your broiler. smear a scant half teaspoonful of raspberry jelly across the top of the baked custard. this is pretty sweet so just a smear is enough. then sprinkle 2 teaspoons of brown sugar on top of each, trying to cover the jelly. if it doesn't cover completely, that's okay.
• 9 put all of the containers on a cookie sheet and place it under the broiler at least 6 to 8 inches below the heat source. broil for up to 2 minutes; you're watching for the brown sugar to completely melt. if there is jelly sticking through, it will glisten. when the sugar is melted, it will make a crust and you're ready to go.
• 10 let them cool for just a minute and serve.