Corn Crème Brûlée
By Faye YangPublished on January 2, 2024
Time
2¼ hours, plus 6 hours cooling and chilling
Yield
Serves 8
Ingredients
Before You Begin
If you don't have shallow 4-ounce fluted dishes, you can use 4-ounce ramekins instead. It is important to bring the custard to 180 degrees twice—first on the stovetop and again in the oven—to thicken it and achieve a creamy texture without a water bath.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 225 degrees. Arrange 8 shallow 4-ounce fluted dishes on rimmed baking sheet.
- Combine corn kernels and cobs, cream, ⅓ cup sugar, and salt in medium saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cook until sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute. Remove saucepan from heat and let sit for 30 minutes. Strain cream mixture through fine-mesh strainer into 8-cup liquid measuring cup, pitcher, or large bowl; discard solids.
- Whisk yolks and ⅓ cup sugar in large bowl until pale yellow in color, about 1 minute. Whisking gently, slowly add cream mixture to yolk mixture until thoroughly combined.
- Return mixture to now-empty saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with rubber spatula, until mixture thickens slightly and registers 180 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes. Immediately pour custard through fine-mesh strainer into 8-cup liquid measuring cup, pitcher, or clean large bowl; discard solids. Using spoon, skim any bubbles or foam from top of custard. Pour or ladle custard evenly among dishes, filling nearly to top of each dish.
- Carefully transfer sheet with dishes to oven. Bake until centers of custards register 180 degrees (custards will have set up slightly but will remain jiggly throughout), 45 minutes to 1 hour. (If custards do not reach 180 degrees after 45 minutes, check every 5 minutes until they reach 180 degrees.)
- Transfer dishes to wire rack and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Set dishes on rimmed baking sheet; cover sheet tightly with plastic wrap; and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours. (Custards can be refrigerated for up to 7 days.)
- Remove plastic. (If any condensation has collected on custards, gently dab paper towel on surface to absorb moisture.) Sprinkle each custard with 1 teaspoon sugar, tilting and tapping dishes to evenly distribute sugar and dumping out any excess sugar.
- Ignite torch; holding flame 4 to 5 inches from surface of custard, sweep flame over surface to melt sugar (sugar should look transparent but not caramelized). Sprinkle each custard with another 1 teaspoon sugar. Reignite torch; holding flame close to surface, move flame over custard, starting from edges and moving into center, to evenly caramelize sugar. (Torched custards can be refrigerated for 30 to 45 minutes, but no longer, for a slightly firmer texture, if desired.) Serve.
Time
2¼ hours, plus 6 hours cooling and chillingYield
Serves 8Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
We wanted to make the elegant restaurant dessert crème brûlée at home. The typical method involves setting up a water bath, which can be intimidating to juggle. To streamline the dish, we wanted to eliminate this setup. We discovered that the trick to a no-water-bath crème brûlée was to cook the custard partway on the stovetop before filling the dishes. Transferring the dishes to a low-temperature oven to finish cooking the custard yielded an evenly cooked, silky-smooth custard. For a shatteringly crisp crust, after cooling and chilling the custards, we blotted any moisture from the tops. Then we sprinkled the custards with one layer of sugar and torched the sugar just to melt it. Finally, we added another layer of sugar and torched it until it was evenly caramelized. For a corn variation, we cooked and steeped fresh corn kernels and corn cobs with the cream to add distinct but not overwhelming corn flavor to the custard.
Before You Begin
If you don't have shallow 4-ounce fluted dishes, you can use 4-ounce ramekins instead. It is important to bring the custard to 180 degrees twice—first on the stovetop and again in the oven—to thicken it and achieve a creamy texture without a water bath.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 225 degrees. Arrange 8 shallow 4-ounce fluted dishes on rimmed baking sheet.
- Combine corn kernels and cobs, cream, ⅓ cup sugar, and salt in medium saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cook until sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute. Remove saucepan from heat and let sit for 30 minutes. Strain cream mixture through fine-mesh strainer into 8-cup liquid measuring cup, pitcher, or large bowl; discard solids.
- Whisk yolks and ⅓ cup sugar in large bowl until pale yellow in color, about 1 minute. Whisking gently, slowly add cream mixture to yolk mixture until thoroughly combined.
- Return mixture to now-empty saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with rubber spatula, until mixture thickens slightly and registers 180 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes. Immediately pour custard through fine-mesh strainer into 8-cup liquid measuring cup, pitcher, or clean large bowl; discard solids. Using spoon, skim any bubbles or foam from top of custard. Pour or ladle custard evenly among dishes, filling nearly to top of each dish.
- Carefully transfer sheet with dishes to oven. Bake until centers of custards register 180 degrees (custards will have set up slightly but will remain jiggly throughout), 45 minutes to 1 hour. (If custards do not reach 180 degrees after 45 minutes, check every 5 minutes until they reach 180 degrees.)
- Transfer dishes to wire rack and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Set dishes on rimmed baking sheet; cover sheet tightly with plastic wrap; and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours. (Custards can be refrigerated for up to 7 days.)
- Remove plastic. (If any condensation has collected on custards, gently dab paper towel on surface to absorb moisture.) Sprinkle each custard with 1 teaspoon sugar, tilting and tapping dishes to evenly distribute sugar and dumping out any excess sugar.
- Ignite torch; holding flame 4 to 5 inches from surface of custard, sweep flame over surface to melt sugar (sugar should look transparent but not caramelized). Sprinkle each custard with another 1 teaspoon sugar. Reignite torch; holding flame close to surface, move flame over custard, starting from edges and moving into center, to evenly caramelize sugar. (Torched custards can be refrigerated for 30 to 45 minutes, but no longer, for a slightly firmer texture, if desired.) Serve.
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