Creme Brulee

So, I originally planned to photograph the entire meal my really, really ridiculously good-looking (Zoolander fans out there?  Yes? No?) husband and I made a couple weeks ago.  All I managed to get were two pictures of the bistro fries because I was too enthralled with watching him instead of thinking about picture taking.  I've never seen such focused dedication in the kitchen than watching Brad scrape the inside of a vanilla bean.  Whew!  Be still my heart.  After almost 9 years together, my heart still pitter-patters when my fella walks in the room. 

Fortunately, I was able to come back down to earth long enough to snap some photos of our tasty dessert.  We often order creme brulee at restaurants and would like to consider ourselves aficionados, though I'm sure we're living in La La Land when we (by 'we' I mean 'I') say that.  

Soon, I plan to re-create the pretzel crusted chicken with Dijon dill dipping sauce he made the same night.  Di-vine!!!

Creme Brulee
Alton Brown, 2005

Ingredients

1 quart heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 cup vanilla sugar, divided
6 large egg yolks
2 quarts hot water

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Divide the remaining 1/2 cup vanilla sugar equally among the 6 dishes and spread evenly on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.