Salted Caramel Crème Brûlée: Eat Your Tea Tuesday!

That's what the package says and that is exactly what it does - as a tea and when infused into Crème Brûlée.

Salted Caramel Black Tea

I especially love lemongrass, hot or cold, and have used it in my cooking - when I am able to find it. Not sure how that might translate in a dessert, but I will most certainly try it sometime.

I made lavender crème brûlée a couple weeks ago and boy was it good, so I thought I would also try it with a black tea I recently started enjoying - Salted Caramel from DAVIDsTEA.

Crème brûlée is rather easy to make and can be made ahead and stored in the fridge, which is exactly what I did. To infuse the cream, I added the tea leaves to the cream and stored in the refrigerator in a covered container for a day. When I was ready to make the crème brûlée, I brought the mixture to a light simmer, so that the tea flavour would be more pronounced. I was concerned that the tea would darken the cream, but I did not have that issue. Once removed from the heat, I poured the infused mixture through a strainer and left it to cool down while I prepared the rest of the recipe.

Excuse the bad lighting, I made this late Friday night.

Before enjoying these little custard treats, sprinkle the top with sugar and use a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar, which adds an attractive caramel colour to an otherwise bland-looking dessert. My aim was to use bits of English toffee instead of sugar in this step, but I did not have any on hand. I would have then garnished with bits of coarse salt. Instead, I used some multi-coloured, shredded coconut that was left over from another project (I removed my coconut before digging in).

We used a torch in the video above, as we just happend to have one - a housewarming gift that has only been used twice prior, once more than the slow-cooker. In the absence of a torch, the same effect can be achieved by placing the crème brûlées just below the broiler for 3-5 minutes or until sugar bubbles and turns golden brown.

A Word of Caution: It is never a good idea to handle open flame with one hand while trying to shoot a video with the other - NEVER!! After a few tries and a couple close mishaps, I thought I would wait until K was back to assist. He burned two of the custards, but we spared the house.

I was quite pleased with the way this Salted Caramel Crème Brûlée turned out. The tea flavour was strong enough that it was noticeable, but not overpowering. I would have liked it a little more pronounced, but I like my tea quite strong.

I hope that you have enjoyed this instalment of Eat Your Tea! I'll be featuring a tea-infused recipe on the first Tuesday of each month going forward.

Salted Caramel Crème Brûlée

A black tea blend of English toffee, coconut, caramel and French sea salt infused in a traditional custard.

Print Recipe

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 50 minutes minutes

Course: Dessert

Servings: 4 servings

Author: I Sugar Coat It

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream I use 35%
• 2 tablespoon Salted Caramel black tea I used DAVIDsTEA
• 4 egg yolks
• ½ cup granulated sugar divided
• 2-3 cups water for water bath

Instructions

• Add cream and tea leaves in a container with a lid and store in the refrigerator for at 24 hours.
• Preheat oven to 325ºF.
• Pour the infused mixture in a heavy saucepan and bring to a light simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and strain to remove tea leaves.
• Whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar, less 4 tsps, until light and creamy.
• Add the strained cream to the egg mixture, blending well. Pour the mixture into crème brûlée cups.
• Add the water to a small saucepan and bring to a light simmer. Pour the hot water into the baking pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cups.
• Place in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until edges appear set. Turn off the oven and let the custard remain in the oven for another 30 minutes, or until center of the custard is almost set.
• Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled. Once cooled, cover the surface of each crème brûlée with plastic wrap - this helps prevent a skin from forming.
• Pour out the water bath and refrigerate the custards for at least 3 hours. I refrigerated mine for 24 hours before torching them.
• When ready to serve, sprinkle a little of the remaining sugar over the tops of each crème brûlée and use a small hand-held torch to caramelize the sugar.
• For best results, hold the torch a few inches (about 4-5) away from the sugar, and move the flame around slowly and evenly until desired colour is reached. Cups will be hot, so be careful.
• Garnish and enjoy!

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