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Classic Creme Brulee (4 Ingredients Only!)

Classic Creme Brûlée is a creamy, smooth, custard dessert. A simple recipe on how to make this Creamy Custard Dessert with a sugary crust. It takes only 4 ingredients and under 15 minutes to make this Creme Brulee Recipe.

Classic creme brulee in white ramekins next to a whisk, spoons and a plate of eggs.

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What Is Creme Brulee?

This Classic Creme Brulee is a custard topped with a thin caramelized sugar layer, which is achieved by melting the granulated sugar using a blow torch. The thin layer of hard caramel is one of the most iconic components of this custard dessert.

As I was making something with a ton of egg whites, I had some egg yolks leftover and wanted to use it them up. Creme Brûlée was the first thing that came to mind and since it’s a super relatively easy thing to make, I went for it.

All you need for this creamy, smooth, custard dessert is eggs, sugar, heavy cream and vanilla bean/extract, 15 minutes of your time and the oven and the fridge will do the rest of ‘heavy lifting’. Now get to it, you know you want to!

Classic Creme Brulee Recipe(4 Ingredients Only!)

Yield: 12 ramekins (1/2 cup each)

Ingredient for Creme Brulee:

  • Egg yolks
  • cream
  • sugar
  • vanilla

How to make Creme Brûlée:

  • Whisk the egg yolks with sugar and vanilla, then temper them with hot cream.
  • Divide the custard between the ramekins and bake in the over in a water bath. Remove and allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.
  • Right before serving sprinkle with sugar and using a blow torch melt it into a caramel layer.

Try these other Creme Brulee related desserts:

 

Here’s an easy print version with the more detailed version of the recipe.

Classic Creme Brule (4 Ingredients Only!)

Classic Creme Brule
5 from 4 votes

A classic creamy and smooth custard dessert. This simple classic Crème Brulle is
ready in under 15 minutes.

Author: Marina | Let the Baking Begin!
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: French
Keyword: creme brulee
Calories: 357 kcal
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 12 - 1/2 cup ramekins

Ingredients

  • 4 cups heavy cream
  • 6-8 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2-3 Tbsp vanilla extract or seeds of 1 vanilla pod

For Caramelized Crust:

  • 12 tsp fine sugar

Instructions

How to make the Creme Brulee:

Prep:

  1. Turn oven to 325°F.

  2. Line a baking sheet with tall sides (glass baking dish or turkey roasting dish works well) with 2 layers of paper towel or 1 layer of kitchen towel, set aside.
  3. Place the empty ramekins inside the baking dish.
  4. Fill a tea kettle with water and allow to come to a boil.

To Make the Creme Brulee Mixture

  1. Add 4 cups heavy cream to a large saucepot and allow to come to a simmer. If using the vanilla seeds add them right now.

  2. Meanwhile, whisk together 6-8 egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar until pale yellow color.

  3. Pour the hot heavy cream into the egg yolk/sugar mixture in a thin stream, while continuously whisking to prevent the egg yolks from curdling. If using the vanilla extract add it to the mixture.
  4. Pour the mixture into the ramekins. This is best done using a pitcher.

To Bake & Chill

  1. Put the baking dish with filled ramekins onto the middle rack of the hot oven and pour the hot water around the ramekins until it comes halfway up to the sides. Loosely cover with foil.
  2. Slide the baking rack back inside the oven and bake for 40 minutes. Then, remove from the oven and allow to come to room temperature. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours until thoroughly chilled.
  3. Within 30 minutes, sprinkle the tops with 1 tsp of sugar and shake around until it covers the surface. Now using a torch caramelize the top.

To caramelize the top:

  1. Hold the ramekin in one hand at a 45 degree angle with the blow torch in another hand. Go over the sugar with the blow torch in circles, rotating the ramekin which will allow the sugar to caramelize the whole surface and make an even layer of the sugar crust.
Nutrition Facts
Classic Creme Brule (4 Ingredients Only!)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 357 Calories from Fat 288
% Daily Value*
Fat 32g49%
Saturated Fat 19g119%
Cholesterol 206mg69%
Sodium 35mg2%
Potassium 73mg2%
Carbohydrates 15g5%
Sugar 13g14%
Protein 3g6%
Vitamin A 1296IU26%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 63mg6%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Marina | Let the Baking Begin

Welcome to Let the Baking Begin! I'm Marina and my love and passion for eating only the most delicious foods drive me to share that love here on Let the Baking Begin (since 2009). With over 20 years of experience in the kitchen, you know the recipes are tested and retested until perfect. I'm so happy to have you here. Enjoy! Read more...

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  • Paula

    Question
    Are you saying to leave the paper towel or kitchen towel in the pan while it’s cooking in the oven?

    · Reply
    • Yes Paula. The water around the towels will prevent it from burning if that is something you were worried about 🙂

      · Reply
  • Georgia

    I need to make 12 for our group. How many does this recipe make?

    · Reply
    • This recipe makes about 5 cups of the creme brule. Take a measuring cup and pour enough liquid to fill your 12 ramekins and count how many cups water you used. Then translate that into how much creme brule you need to make.

      · Reply
      • Chris

        Recipe calls for eight 1/2 cup ramekins. Here you say “twelve”I did wind up with twelve but had to do a quick 2-step getting more ramekins out and a larger baking dish to put them in! In the oven will follow up…

        · Reply
  • MElissa

    Currently making these!! Question – when taking out of the oven to cool at room temp & fridge, am I leaving the ramekins in the baking dish & water bath still? Just curious. Thank you!

    · Reply
    • Hi Melissa,
      You should remove the ramekins out of the water bath to cool. Just remove them and place them onto a wire rack to help the air to circulate all around and speed up the cooling. If you don’t have the cooling rack, just leave it out on the table.

      · Reply
  • Yum! I can’t believe this but I’ve never actually made creme brûlée. I don’t have a torch!

    · Reply
  • vikalinkafood

    So delicious looking! Creme brulee is one of my favourite desserts in the world. Eating it always takes me back to one rainy day dinner in Paris and sharing a two-person ramekin of creme brulee with Brad. I’ve actually never made it myself but I think I will this week while kids are away at camp. 😉 Thank you for the inspiration, my friends!

    · Reply
    • Oh, I need to make a creme brule-Paris memory…I have creme brule, now I just need to make it to Paris lol
      You will be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to make 🙂

      · Reply
  • Creme brulee is my husbands favorite dessert. Funny story, we were in Riviera Maya for our honeymoon a few years ago and were at a resort with 7 different restaurants. We would special order creme brulee at all of the non-French restaurants because we knew the kitchens of the restaurants were all mostly in one area. We loved eating unlimited creme brulee! 🙂 Your photos look so clear and crisp, I love how you set up the photo. Now, would you mind bringing one all the way over to Ohio? 😉

    · Reply
    • Clever of you guys 😉 and thank you for your wonderful comment! Now let me put a couple of them through the fax machine 😀

      · Reply

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