Rose Water Crème Brûlée Infused with Saffron

Crème Brûlée..
I barely have words to describe how delicate this dessert is. My heart gives a little leap of joy every time I break through the thin crisp layer of caramelized sugar to sample (read devour) the velvety smooth custard underneath. And best of all, it is as easy to make as it is delicious. Over the years I've made Crème Brûlée with vanilla beans and never did I consider that such perfection could be improved. But, as always I am happy to be proven wrong. I'm glad to report that flavored with saffron and rose water, this iconic French dessert is elevated to a whole new level. Go on. Buy some saffron this weekend. It's absolutely worth the splurge. Also, if you don't own a kitchen torch you could just leave out the whole caramelization bit, call it rose water and saffron pudding and no one would be the wiser.

Crème Brûlée
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
3 extra large egg yolks (60 grams)
2 tablespoon + 2 teaspoon sugar (40 grams)
1 1/2 tablespoon rose water
1/4 teaspoon saffron

First thing's first. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees F.


Then, begin by heating the heavy cream till you see bubbles around the edge of your non stick pan. You do not want the cream to come to a boil. All you need is for it to simmer gently.

Now turn off the heat and add crushed saffron. Give it a quick stir, cover the pot and forget it exists for the next 10 minutes.

In the meanwhile mix the yolk with sugar till it dissolves. You keep mixing till the color of the yolk appears to be a little lighter.

Add the saffron cream mixture (which has taken on a delicate yellow hue by now) to the yolk sugar concoction while stirring continuously. 

You'll see that this recipe does not make a lot. This is because it's hard to stop eating this dessert if there's a lot in the fridge. So, unless you are making for company stick to making small amounts. You waistline will thank me.

Now back to the recipe. Strain custard into a pourable container (a 2 cup measuring dish perhaps) and pour equal amounts in four ramekins that have been placed in a rimmed baking pan. It doesn't matter whether the pan is made of glass or not. As long the little dishes fit comfortable, you are fine.

Stick the pan into the oven and fill up the pan with boiling hot water so that the ramekins are half submerged in water. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the custard barely sets. The center should still jiggle when you take it out of the oven. As the residual heat from the ramekins will finish the cooking process.
I can not stress how important this is. To get the best consistency, the custard needs to be taken out before the center's completely set.


Now chill the custard in the fridge overnight or at least an hour or two. I don't know if you've noticed but these are different ramekins, as the first batch was gone before I could take pictures.

                           

Spread a thin layer a sugar on top and caramelize with a cooking torch or a small propane torch available at hardware stores.

 The sugar bubbles and sizzles...

Before settling down to form a crisp layer.

Chill for 5 minutes to cool down the custard. Break open with a spoon.

And cherish every bite

Cream cheese pudding

Ok. So the recipe isn't actually for pudding. It's a step-by-step photo guide to making flans. But, in Bangladesh, the words "flan" is never used, although..there isn't a single home where it isn't made, cherished and devoured. Out of respect for the fond memories, I'll keep using the word pudding instead of flan throughout this post. Bear with me. :p

Pudding in Bangladesh is usually made with sugar, milk and eggs. Here, I've added cream cheese to the egg, milk mixture which takes it closer to a cheesecake, but without the added calories. This is a simple twist on a classic take and really, really easy to make. 

Recipe

Prep time: 15 minutes

Bake time: 1 hour and 20 minutes

3/4 cups sugar

1 can evaporated milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk

8 ounces cream cheese (low fat is fine)

5 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

First, pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Now put sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium low heat. It won't be long before the sugar starts boiling.

 

  

Be patient, it'll seem like forever (more like 5-8 minutes..) but the sugar will caramelize to a nice golden color. This is the only tricky step to making a caramel pudding. Once the sugar turns golden remove the pot from the   stove as the residual heat will continue to cook the sugar some more and you don't want burnt sugar. That's just wrong. 

Working quickly but carefully pour the golden caramel into a 9 inch cake pan. The sugar is very very very hot at this stage and will burn if it comes into contact with skin.

After pouring the caramel, soak the pot in warm water. This makes for an easier clean up afterwards.

Now onto the next stage...Gather all the ingredients. Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature, that way it'll mix easily with the other ingredients.

And blend...

Pour into the cake pan with caramel already in it.

Bake in a water bath. This just means that you put the cake pan in a bigger dish and pour boiling water that'll come upto about 1/3rd to 1/2 of the pan. Don't go over board with the water as you don't want any to get into your pudding mixture.

Insert a clean knife into the pudding after 1 hour and 15 minutes. If the knife comes out clean your caramel pudding is ready. If the pudding still seems liquidy give it 10 more minutes and check again. You do not, I repeat, do not want to overcook the pudding. There's nothing worse than a hard, rubbery pudding. Take it from someone who knows. When you take out the pudding it should wiggle a little when you shake it.

I tested to see if it was done a couple of times. Hence the marks on the surface. But the pudding will be flipped and will look pristine and no one will be able to tell.

Once the pudding cools down run a knife along the edges. Then place a flat plate on top of the baking dish and flip it over in one single motion. The pudding should fall right out. This takes a little practice. But, hey, even if it breaks it'll still taste great.

Chill for at least 4 hours to over night. Slice off a piece and enjoy.

 Didn't I tell you it was gonna be easy. :)