Wall street barons are to blame for my culinary mishap this week. Apparently, if you are an amateur, you need a blowtorch. I chose not to make a frivolous purchase (blowtorch used for one recipe every 3-5 years) in light of the fact that I expect to see a breadline out my office window any day now.
I made my crème meltée on Saturday afternoon and let it chill in the fridge until Sunday evening. (Yes, I served it at night…in the fall…no natural light for pictures…no, I apparently won’t learn my lesson, thank you very much). I followed Dorie’s instructions and filled my tray with ice cubes. I stood guard over the oven as if my own baby were about to be birthed in there. I don’t know exactly what the issue was but it took longer than I expected for the sugar to start to carmelize. I worried that the ramekins were too far from the broiler, but I can’t see them on the top shelf and constant viewing was required after all.
The sugar did carmelize a little but the top of the brulee was meltee (make sure you are pronouncing with the proper accent – second syllable). I even tried to go fancy and make a pumpkin brulee. I added the usual pumpkin pie spices to the milk/cream and a quarter cup pumpkin after I whisked the eggs and sugar (I would add more if I made it again). Patty, the mother, loved it melty layer and all. I thought it was OK. I guess the texture is more important to me. Will pronounced it ick and “not like pudding at all” and Colin ran away from his serving. The spouse is avoiding sugar so none for him. I am not sure dessert should ever be sugar free but it really doesn’t make sense in this case.
I ran with the fall theme and made chocolate ginger cookies as accompaniment. I love fall. I will post later about my obsession with Halloween, fall and all other holiday mania but this is long enough already. On the cookies, Colin – “this tastes bad.” Will – didn’t like them; did like them; thinks they’re ok. They were good to go with something like this but I wouldn’t crave them.
Thanks to Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake for taking me out of my comfort zone. The recipe is on her blog. Check out the non melted brulees here. Next week: Caramel peanut topped brownies. BROWNIES. CARAMEL. What could go wrong….
Baking with the Boys 
Oh wow. Overachiever with the pumpkin creme brulee. Sorry it was meltee. I wonder what happened? 😦
Clara @ iheartfood4thought
Pumpkin creme brulee sounds wonderful. Creme meltee sounds sad though 😦 Maybe your broiler doesn’t go hot enough?
Meltee, the new brulee! I think you should claim this as a new trend. I’ll do my part here in Manhattan.
The pumpkin brulee sounds like the perfect thing for a crisp fall evening. I did a tea flavor, and used the oven. They really do need to be right up next to the broiler, or at least mine did (but mine were significantly sunk down in their baking cups). I just held the pan of ice cubes so the cup was nearly touching the element (electric broiler in my case). I’m with you: I’ll rarely use a torch. The stovetop method has lots of promise (I tried it also). It would take a bit of experimenting for me to get it right (translate: I got it wrong the first try!). Yours looks really pretty, and extra credit for the sweet little cookies. I love fall flavors too!
First of all, I wish it was cool enough here to warrant fall flavors. It’s going to be 98 tomorrow.
Second, pumpkin = YUM! I love pumpkin brulee, pie, cake, bread, anything with lots of spices. Chocolate ginger cookies? I am going back to find the recipe for that one.
I hate it when David goes “no sugar” – it drives me batty. But, I suppose it leaves more for me!!
Pumpkin!!! Yummy. Meltee (with the accent on the tee). Not good. But good try. Next time they will be perfect.
First of all…I’m totally worried about the bread line things happening! SCARY! Great post otherwise, though! I am very much looking forward to that ooey-gooey caramel brownie cake next week. Bring it on.
Don’t you love the responses you get sometimes after all the effort you put in? I am glad to see someone had the same idea as me and went through with it. Sorry it didn’t turn out perfect. It still looks and sounds good to me!
Hummmm… pumkin spices, what a nice idea to celebrate the coming Fall! Too cool!
I have to admit, you’re one of the few blogs I take the time to read… it is stronger than me, you crack me up! …with your stories of breadline out your window and your own baby being born in the oven! LOL LOL You kill me!
Rarely do I laugh out loud when I read posts… but here, I always feel good.
BRAVO!
Ha, “meltee” has me cracking up.
The combo of pumpkin, chocolate, and ginger sounds divine. I love fall too!
I love the cookies you put on top! very creative 🙂
Your cookies are so cute! Glad some members of the family enjoyed the crème brûlée, and you enjoyed the challenge!
Fall is my favorite season too! Although here in SoCal it’s not feeling like fall yet. I can’t wait for cooler, crisp weather to get here. Your pumpkin brulee sounds delicious. I had a little trouble melting the sugar even with the torch. It took longer than I thought it should. I think super fine sugar would work better.
Oh, I totally knew that the accent was on the second syllable on “meltee” because you had the accent there — too, too awesome!! I think some of the world’s great desserts were born by accident — who knows, maybe the creme meltee will be one of them. The pumpkin sounds fantastic! I should have known better on the torch purchase, but I just plan to make creme brulee every week until I get my money’s worth. You have no idea how jealous I am of your leaf-shaped cookie cutters.
The pumpkin version sounds great. I added chai tea and my husband thought it was pumpkin.
I think I have the same cookie cutters – I love the way you used them.
Sorry the brulee was so meltee. But the cookies are adorable!
Ooh, sounds yummy! I’m so glad that fall is finally (mostly) here. And the chocolate ginger cookies sound delicious. I may have to give those a try.