Lilac Crème Brûlée
A heavenly blend of subtly sweet fresh lilacs and vanilla come together for the perfect springtime crème brûlée. Top your brûlées with candied lilac flowers for bonus points.
follow for seasonal recipes →
A heavenly blend of subtly sweet fresh lilacs and vanilla come together for the perfect springtime crème brûlée. Top your brûlées with candied lilac flowers for bonus points.
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup fresh lilac flowers, removed from stems
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup lilac sugar
5 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
Additional lilac sugar, for brûlée top
1. Preheat oven to 300° F and start warming up a pot of water on the stove (you'll need this for the water bath that the brûlée will bake in).
2. Set 8 shallow ramekins or 4 deep ramekins in a baking pan that is deep enough to fill with about an inch of water. Set aside.
3. Heat cream in a saucepan over medium-low heat just until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges. Do NOT boil it.
4. Add fresh lilac flowers to cream, cover, and allow to infuse for 10 minutes. Strain, discarding flowers. Add vanilla to infused cream.
5. Whisk egg yolks, lilac sugar, and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Add about 1/2 cup of warm cream into egg yolk mixture and whisk together. Then pour remaining cream in and whisk to combine well.
6. Distribute brûlée mixture between ramekins, filling almost to the top of each ramekin. To eliminate bubbles on the surface of your custards, you can wave a culinary torch swiftly and briefly over tops of custard. Very carefully pour hot water into the baking dish until water comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Be careful not to splash any water into your brûlée.
7. Place pan in oven and bake until crème brûlée is mostly set but centers still have a slight jiggle, about 20-25 minutes for shallow ramekins or 35-40 minutes for deep ramekins.
8. Let brûlées come to room temperature, then chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.
9. Sprinkle lilac sugar on top of each custard to make an even thin layer. Carefully brûlée sugar with a culinary torch until sugar turns golden brown and bubbly. Let set for a minute or two until sugar cools, then enjoy.
