This pandan-infused crème brûlée is a silky smooth treat that’s comes together nice and easy. Same recipe can be used for normal crème brûlée!
I’ve been putting off posting this recipe for months because of dumb reasons…mostly blogging hasn’t been super fun lately. I’ve forgotten the initial joy I had in sharing and recipes for people. Since I started working from home (been like two years now???) I lost the need to prep food in advance. As a result I’ve defaulted to quick and simple meals that I kind of feel aren’t worth sharing. Even with baking, there’s less people for me to share with so I have less motivation to bake. But it kind of sucks you know? This was something I really enjoyed doing and lately it’s just felt like a chore.
So after that two year-long depressive line of thinking I gave myself a little mental smack in the face. So what if I don’t think it’s worth sharing?? I’m gonna share it anyway!!! It’s better than disappearing for two years just because I’m scared people won’t find the content I make valuable. A lot of times I think to myself, “Damn why didn’t I think of that” or “There’s already so many people posting the same thing”….
Whatever!!!!!! Fuck it!!! I’m gonna do it anyway!! There are still people out there who find cooking inaccessible. If I can help them and they’ll enjoy cooking because of it then that’s worth it to me! If I wanna post a cool photo that I took of some food I made then god dammit I will, SEO and engagement be damned. If I want to post mediocre content then I’m going to do it! If I want to put effort into something I’m going to do it and if no one else really likes it that’s fine because I like it!! I hope this also motivates you to post whatever you want, your content is for your enjoyment!! Document your life and let everyone know that you’re here! This paragraph has a lot of exclamation points!!
Anyway. That was basically my realization this year that I should stop giving any fucks about how many likes or followers I get. That being said I think these pictures I took are pretty cool so if you think so too then that’s super rad. I made this recipe because I had to use the pandan in my freezer and the vanilla bean I bought before it dried out cuz it was hella $$$. It’s only five ingredients and it’s pretty easy to make if you have everything. If you want to make normal crème brûlée just don’t use the pandan! Enjoy!
Pandan Vanilla Crème Brûlée
Equipment
- Ramekins
- Fine Mesh Sieve
- Mortar & Pestle
- Baking Dish
- Kitchen Torch
Ingredients
- 4 large egg yolks (~18g per yolk)
- 50 g sugar (1/4 cup) plus another ~16g (4 tsp) for topping
- 435 ml heavy cream (1 3/4 cups)
- 1 vanilla bean cut in half, scraped
- 6~10 pandan leaves amount depending on preference, fresh or frozen
Instructions
- Rinse the pandan leaves and cut them into small pieces. Use a circular twisting motion with your wrist to grind the leaves until fine with a mortar and pestle*, add a bit of cream if needed, and then add some more at the end and mix evenly. Strain out the product and add the infused cream back with the rest of the cream into a pot.
- Preheat oven to 320°F.
- Cut the vanilla bean in half and scrape out the seeds. Add both the seeds and the bean into the pot with the cream, heat the pot on medium heat just until you can see bubbles forming.
- While you're waiting for the cream to heat, place ramekins in a baking dish that is big enough to accommodate all of them without touching each other. Boil a pot of water, there should be enough water to reach halfway up the ramekins.
- Remove the vanilla bean from the cream. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until thickened and pale yellow in color. While cream is still hot, very gradually pour into the egg yolk mixture while whisking constantly. Be patient as you temper so that the yolks don't curdle.
- Pour the mixture through a sieve and evenly into the ramekins. Pour the boiled water into the baking dish around the ramekins, careful not to get any in them.
- Carefully place the baking dish into the oven. Bake for 25-35 min until it is mostly set but still jiggly in the center. Bake time will depend on size of you ramekin.
- Remove ramekins from the water and cool on a wire rack. Once completely cooled, cover and let set in the fridge overnight (min 4 hours).
- When ready to serve, evenly distribute the sugar for topping and torch the surface. Let cool for a minute so the sugar can harden and then serve immediately.
