Coffee Crème Brûlée

One of my favorite desserts on the planet is crème brûlée. What could make it even better? Add some coffee to it. This coffee crème brûlée dessert is divine. The crème brûlée was just the right ratio of creamy to crunchy, glass-like sugar topping. Everyone loved it.

It only took about 10 minutes to put all the ingredients together, including the 4 minutes to heat my cream mixture until the sugar dissolved. I sprinkled 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar on top of each chilled custard. Using a kitchen torch made easy work of caramelizing the sugar top.

If you like coffee desserts, and if you like crème brûlée, you can’t go wrong with this coffee crème brûlée variation on the classic. The custard comes together in a snap using instant espresso powder and packs a deep coffee flavor. The cooking times were spot-on. In short, this is an easy dessert to make and delivers a lot of flavor, plus the contrast in textures that makes crème brûlée such a delight to eat.

I thought that this coffee crème brûlée recipe had a really nice, smooth coffee flavor. The recipe itself is easy and quick.

The recipe calls for pouring hot water into a baking dish so that it reaches at least halfway up the gratin dishes. Please note that going beyond the halfway point becomes precarious, as you increase your chances of sloshing water into your custard when you give the pan a little shake to see if it is done or when you remove the pan from the oven.

I let the baked custards sit overnight in the fridge so that the next night dessert required nothing more than a dusting of sugar followed by a torching. The custard itself came out a little lighter in density than others I’ve had, but I found it quite refreshing. A definite winner.

I love crème brûlée and love it even more that I can so easily make it at home. I finally broke down and invested in a kitchen blowtorch because Leite’s has provided some great crème brûlée recipes. This coffee crème brûlée delivered on the author’s promise of a superbly light texture and perfect caramel-to-cream ratio. The coffee and Kahlúa flavor wasn’t overpowering, for those who worry that it might be. This is one of those desserts that easily impresses a crowd, even the under-5 group (My 4-year-old loved it!).

I added the instant coffee powder to the warmed milk before adding it to the eggs to ensure that it was completely dissolved. I used six 4-ounce ramekins. I baked them for 35 minutes and they were adequately quivering.

I wouldn’t change a thing about this delectable coffee crème brûlée recipe! Perfectly sweet, thick custard flavored with instant espresso powder and coffee liqueur (I actually used espresso vodka in place of the liqueur), topped with a hard sugary crust. Yum, yum, yum!

I have to say, I was skeptical once I poured the custard mixture into the ramekins because it seemed too thin, but it set perfectly as it baked in the oven. After I torched the tops, I refrigerated them again for about 15 minutes before serving. That way, they were chilled all the way through. Overall, this was a very delicious recipe.

I’d like to try the vanilla variation next; I would imagine that a lemon- or almond-flavored custard would also be wonderful.

I couldn’t resist. I’m lactose-intolerant and have been researching the best substitute for cream and milk in crème brûlée. Most non-dairy milks aren’t worth the trouble, but coconut milk seemed to have promise. Rich, fatty, and unctuous like cream but with none of the pesky lactose.

I went with the vanilla version, thinking that vanilla might cohabitate with coconut a little more smoothly than coffee. I used one can (2 cups) Thai Kitchen unsweetened coconut milk in place of the cream and milk, but otherwise followed the directions exactly. I heated the milk, sugar, and salt, and whisked until dissolved, then added a vanilla bean and let the mixture infuse for an hour. I filled 4 of my adorable red Le Creuset ramekins and placed them inside a 13-by-9-by-2-inch glass baking dish that I filled with hot water. I covered the whole shebang with foil. Because the Le Creuset ramekins were deeper than standard crème brûlée ramekins, it took a bit longer to set up—about an extra 10 minutes—with a little jiggle still in the center.

After refrigerating the custards overnight, they were set perfectly—smooth, creamy, and delicious. The broiler works okay to caramelize the sugar topping, but it heats up the custard too much. I don’t recommend it. So, my version was maybe not as good as the full-dairy version but almost. More than good enough to make again. More than good enough to convince me to buy a blow torch.

I’ve always wanted to make crème brûlée, but for some reason, I thought that it would be complicated. It’s not. These were creamy and delicious.

I had a couple different sizes gratin dishes. The smaller size appeared to be set in 20 minutes, the larger in 25 minutes. At least, I thought that they were set. After allowing them to cool on a rack, I placed them in the refrigerator. A few hours later, we tried the smaller of the two brûlées. After successfully getting the top caramelized and digging in, we found the custard underneath the shattering crisp topping to be quite liquidy. It appeared to have not really set. I figured that I hadn’t baked it long enough. So we ate half and put the other half back in the refrigerator. Spending the night in the fridge seemed to be just what the custard needed. The next day, it had the consistency I’d been looking for. I would suggest refrigerating these overnight to attain a restaurant-quality dessert.

This is also a very easy recipe to cut in half if you don’t want to make 4 to 6 servings. However, after you taste it, you may wish that you’d made the whole recipe.