Cinnamon Infused Creme Brulee

Preheat oven to 160ºC (320ºF). Leave a deep roasting tray or baking tray in the oven to preheat.

Break cinnamon stick in half, then put it in a pot along with milk, cream, vanilla seeds and pod. Put cream mixture over high flame and scald it (meaning turn the heat off as soon as the mixture starts to boil). Leave for about 10 minutes to let cinnamon and vanilla infuse the cream.

Meanwhile, whisk sugar and egg yolks in a large bowl until mixture goes nice and pale.

Remove cinnamon stick from cream with a pair of tongs or a slotted spoon. Slowly pour cream into the bowl with the sugar and egg mixture while whisking at the same time (be sure to add hot cream slowly).

Put a strainer over a measuring jug, then strain custard mixture into measuring jug (try to use your spoon or spatula to push those vanilla seeds out of the pod through the strainer to get as much flavour as possible).

Fill a kettle to full capacity with water, then start boiling. Take the tray out of the oven, put a tea towel flat inside the tray. Place ramekins on the tea-towel surface. Fill ramekins evenly with custard mixture. Pour boiling water from the kettle in the tray until it reaches 3/4 up the outside of the ramekins (watch the video in the post if you are confused).

Cover tray with foil, then very carefully place in preheated oven. Cook fo 30 minutes.

Again, make sure you are very careful when removing the tray from the oven. Put ramekins in the fridge and leave them for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Before torching crème brulee, I like to leave them out of the fridge for about 10 minutes until they come to room temperature. Top custard in the ramekins with a layer of sugar (enough to coat the surface). Use a blow torch to caramelise the sugar. Don’t put the flame too close to the sugar, otherwise it will burn too much. Leave for a minute so the caramelized sugar goes hard, then serve.

Note: It is preferred that creme brulee rests in the fridge for at least 4 hours after baking. So make the recipe in advance.