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I zested,
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then did some serious juice squeezing.
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The recipe calls for steeping the cream with lemon zest, cooling the mixture in an ice bath, adding lemon juice and salt, then resting the mixture overnight in the fridge.
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A handful of raspberries are scattered in each ramekin (I also added a few blueberries), and the custard mixture is poured into the prepared dishes.
These babies are ready for the oven.
Once the custard is set, it is chilled in the fridge overnight. Now, my favorite part - the brulee! After sprinkling some sugar on top,
the top is torched to melt the sugar and to create that scrumptious crunchy top.
My favorite part of this dessert is cracking the crunchy top, which yields to the creamy goodness underneath.
The custard delivers a nice refreshing tang from the meyer lemon, and has a wonderfully soft texture, which is a great contrast to the crunchy sugar top. The berries are soft and jammy, and provides a wonderful complement to the lemon flavor.
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Meyer Lemon Creme Brulee w. Raspberries & Blueberries
adapted from The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco
Serves 6
2 C. heavy cream
1/4 c. plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 4 meyer lemons
1/2 c. strained fresh meyer lemon juice
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 large egg yolks
1 c. raspberries
1 c. blueberries
additional sugar
Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl.
In a medium saucepan, bring the cream, sugar, vanilla and meyer lemon zest just to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the mixture ino a medium bowl. Set the bowl into the ice bath and stir until the mixture has cooled. Once cooled, removed the bowl from the ice bath, and whisk in the lemon juice and salt. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.
In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Pour about one third of the chilled cream mixture into the yolks, and whisk together well. Add the remaining cream mixture and whisk to combine. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 300F.
Place 6 ramekins in 9x13x2 baking pan. scatter the raspberries and blueberries in a single layer in each ramekin. Divide the custard mixture among the ramekins. Place the prepared baking pan in the oven, and carefully pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the ramekins. Be careful not to dilute the custard mixture with the hot water.
Bake in the water bath for 30 minutes, or until just set.
Let the custards cool to room temperature, then chill until they are ready to be served.
Just before serving, sprinkle sugar evenly over the tops of each custad and caramelize with a torch or under a broiler. Serve immediately.