Flash back to November 2013, please recall our Indian extravaganza thank you dinner I made for our very generous neighbours. As you know, I’m not a huge fan of Indian desserts (remember this one?) so when I planned the dinner party I knew right away that I wanted to make a version of Chai Crème Brûlée. Sadly it’s winter in these parts which means it gets dark anywhere from 4:30, so I wasn’t able to take a decent photo until I was able to remake this tasty dessert and shoot it in daylight!
Chai Crème Brûlé
Serves 1 (slightly more than 1/2 cup serving); just multiply by the number of people you need to feed to get your amounts
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup of whole milk or cream per person
- 1.5-2 tsp sugar per person
- 1 black tea bag
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise
- 3 green cardamon pods, smashed gently.
- 1 egg yolk per person
- 1-2 tbsp per person of sugar to brûlée
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 135°C or 275°F.
- Infuse the milk with the Chai spices: combine milk or cream, sugar, black tea bag, cinnamon stick, star anise and cardamon in a small pot and heat until just under boiling, simmer for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool with a lid on the pot (or refrigerate overnight, which is what I did). Strain to remove all the bits, discard strained pieces.
- Once cooled, whisk the infused milk, egg yolks in a vessel with a pouring spout.
- Pour this mixture into ramekins. My ramekins were about 2/3 of a cup each. Place ramekins into a roasting pan with 5cm sides, put the pan into the pre-heated oven. Pour enough water around the ramekins to reach up just over half way on the side of the ramekins (it’s much easier to do this once the pan is in the oven so you’re not balancing the custard and the water on your way to the oven).
- Bake for 30-45 minutes to an hour or so. You’ll know they’re done when you can stick a knife in one and it comes out clean. Remove the ramekins from the baking pan, set them on the counter allow them cool. (The deeper your custard is the longer it will need to bake).
- Sprinkle a thin layer of sugar on the top of each. Make sure it’s a THIN layer, but also make sure it completely covers the custard. Now torch it! Garnish with Whipped cream if you’d like (for the dinner party, I infused the whipping cream with a hot cinnamon stick which I heated for 1 minute on high in the microwave. I refrigerated the whipping cream and hot cinnamon stick until serving and then I removed the stick and whipped the cream).
Tips:
- To save some time, just use a prepared Chai teabag.
- Don’t squeeze the tea bag, it will be bitter.
[…] I’ll repeat them below). I wanted something a little different because I’d already made Chai Crème Brûlée and Gulab Jamun. I’ve always wanted to bake Lady Fingers and that’s how I landed on Chai […]
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You are so inventive Eva! A chai creme brulee. I never would have thought of it. I bet the flavors were fantastic and complemented your Indian meal perfectly.
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Thank you so much Kristy, it really did taste like Chai, I wish I had a dollop of whipped cream for the garnish and it would have been perfect!
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We love Créme Brulée in this house!! I’ve never tasted a Chai version but I know it would be devoured if I made it! I have the torch, but wondered about the sugar.. is there a special sugar that gets sprinkled over top? Or can I use regular? I’ve got some chai spice here ready to go! xx
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Hi Barbara, it’s such an impressive dessert and so well loved! I have done many experiments with the sugar from using brown sugar that has been left out on a cookie sheet to ‘dry out’ to just plain white sugar and both work reasonably well. The only thing you shouldn’t do is brûlée the top in advance as the moisture from the crème will seep up and soften the hard caramel.
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Thanks for the advice:) xx
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I love creme brulee and I think every women should own a torch! I have never tried it with the chai spices, I bet it was lovely, Take Care, BAM
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Thanks BAM, it was very velvety and lovely.
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What a coincidence! At my birthday dinner, the restaurant gave me a choice of desserts. In that no one else at the table was having dessert — the fools!!! — I opted for the Crème Brûlée Trio, one was vanilla bean, one chocolate, and the third was, you guessed it, Chai Crème Brûlée. It’s a good thing I tried the Chai first because, of the three, that one barely made it round the table.It was sooo good. Given your tack record, I just know that yours would be very much better than the restaurant’s. Will I ever impress a few of my friends the next time they’re here for dinner. And this time I’ll get more than a taste! Thanks, Eva!
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Now that is indeed quite a coincidence John! Sometimes I find restaurant Crème Brûlée just a little too rich and a little too sweet for my taste. I do hope you’ll give this one a try, it’s rather quick and easy.
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Today, I made your glorious very delectable chai crème brûlée & it was just perfect for our palates,..so good! x
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I am so pleased you made it Sophie, thank you kindly for letting me know. I’m pleased that it worked out so very well too!
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You poor thing. You had to remake this dessert. Talk about torture. I love the photo, but this would also look good in a different dish don’t you think. Perhaps a repost is in order in a bit!
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Your comments Greg always make me chuckle, thank you. Now you have me thinking of other serving dishes!
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That’s a great hint not to squeeze the tea bag. I would have done that thinking I’d get more flavour out. It’s a gorgeous dessert Eva! 🙂
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Thanks so much Lorraine, it’s tasty too!
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This I am making this weekend! Thank you for your recipe! ✾ ✿ ❀
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I hope you enjoy it upsdiediy! Welcome to my blog.
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This looks so good, Eva. Perhaps perfect for a little Valentine’s dessert? 🙂
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Hi Betsy, it is indeed a perfect Valentine’s dessert! Thank you.
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This sounds right up my alley. When I hosted an Indian themed book club, I made a coconut creme brûlée for the same reasons you stated. Now I’d like to try your chai version 🙂
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The coconut version also sounds fantastic, I’m going to check your blog for the recipe.
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I have a soft spot for creme brulee a real soft spot!!
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Thank you so much Claire, it’s a very simple recipe and it works out every time!
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This sounds completely yummy, Eva! I like chai and you have selected wonderful spices for this. And it goes without saying that I like creme brulee. Saving this.
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Thanks Sharyn, I hope you enjoy it.
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I think this is such a delicious brûlée my friend, I love the Indian influence on it!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thank you very much CCU.
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Oh yes, I remember your Indian party. Infusing the whipping cream with a hot cinnamon stick is a really cool idea, must remember this tip.
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Thanks so much Norma, it certainly makes an unexpected surprise.
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Oh my. This looks stellar. What a unique creme brûlée. I definitely need to give this a try. Bookmarking for a later date.
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Thanks so much Richard, high praise coming from you, I am very flattered. I hope you enjoy it, in fact, please do email me your comments if you do try it!
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Ooh… I have to try this delightful recipe Eva… I love how you do your chai infusion and it’s a combination of flavours that is just so gorgeous this time of year. I’m swooning just reading about it. Once I get my torch back we’ll be in business (we fight over who gets to torch – the oven just isn’t the same 😉 — also have try Sissi’s delightful matcha version!! (drink matcha every afternoon :).
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Thanks Kelly, I was very pleasantly surprised how well these particular flavours converted into a richly seasoned crème brûlée. In fact it was so tasty, I’m going to make it again and again!
I’m not that much into matcha but you and Sissi are getting through to me so I may have to try it in a crème brûlée!!
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I remember your Indian dinner party (and a lot of other dinner parties) that made me swoon with envy. I’m not all that keen on Indian desserts either but I’d queue up for this chai crème brûlée
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Thank you so much Maureen, I’m an indeed very flattered with your kind and generous words.
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Eva, I couldn’t agree more: I don’t like Indian desserts (in fact I don’t like non-European desserts in general: Thai, Chinese, but also North-African super sweet and greasy ones… even most Japanese desserts are not my kind of food). It’s probably because of the important role desserts play in Western meals that us, Westerners, have developped such an array of wonderful desserts… such as crème brûlée 😉 I am crazy for crème brûlée with matcha and do it regularly especially in the summer (but I suppose you wouldn’t, if I remember well), so this chai version sounds and looks extremely tempting… Wonderful idea which, in my case, would make a 100% Indian meal finally possible! (Well maybe not 100% because crème brûlée is not an Indian concept, but you know what I mean 🙂 )
I also feel the same about winter photographs… I don’t have a photo studio with special lamps, etc. and I work, so it’s difficult to find a moment during the day to take photos when days are often grey and night falls so quickly…
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Thank you so much for your lovely compliments Sissi, the crème Brûlée turned out very well, the chai flavours really lend themselves to this form perfectly. I remember your love for matcha, it’s a flavour I cannot get used to, but perhaps because of your (and Kelly’s) recommendations I will have to try it again one day.
I’m surprised that you take your photos at night, they really are fantastic! I have become so lazy that I can’t even be bothered to get my Canon Rebel and all of my photos are with my trusted iPhone 4S with an app called Camera Awesome. It does a really good job, but sometimes I bounce light from a white board to get more of a daytime look. And I also do a bit of photoshop work on them.
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Eva, thank you for the kind compliments… I think however that my English is really bad.. I meant I never take night photos (I don’t know how to do it properly and don’t have equipment for this, hence so many dishes I eat regularly and never post (typical dinner dishes…). I should have said “it’s difficult to find time during the day, but I find it during weekends and on days when I work from home”. (Sorry for this misunderstanding…).
I also started to bounce light with a white board (when I did it for the first time I wondered why I hadn’t tried this simple and cheap trick before!). Just like you, I use Photoshop, though I’m thrilled when I see a photo I don’t need to change!
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Thank you Sissi, yes it is indeed quite a coup when there isn’t a lot of fixing in photoshop!
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I love the idea of infusing chai into creme brulee. Irresistible!
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Thanks so much Angie, it really did turn out very well; in fact I’ll probably make this again and again.
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I remember that dinner party well. It certainly had some great dishes. I can’t believe it gets dark so early! This is a really lovely looking creme brulee recipe – I haven’t made a chai one in the past so this is something for my repertoire xx
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Thank you so much Charlie, it’s quite a flavourful dessert, I hope you do try it one day.
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Chai tea creme brulee sounds like a perfect ending to a spice-laden Indian meal. Was the topping appropriately crunchy? I hope to buy a propane torch one day and get it right. Though I still think you should give gulab jamun another try. 🙂
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Maria, I thought of you as I typed the words about the gulag jamun! One of these days I shall try it again.
The topping was indeed crunchy, I was surprised that the photograph didn’t capture it well.
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I’m sure I’ll make gulab jamun again one day, but my next Indian dessert will probably be barfi/burfi especially as I have a ton of chickpea flour (besan) in my pantry to use up.
In the meantime I’m working my way through a batch of Rachael Ray’s chocolate pot du creme flavoured with rum.
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I just made pot du creme for the first time in December for a photo shoot for a magazine, it really was incredibly delicious!
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G’day and yes please Eva, true!
Your recipe sounds and looks wonderful …wish I could try some right now too!
Cheers! Joanne
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Thanks Joanne, so very lovely of you to say.
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Oh my goodness, can you please come to my place right now and make some for me?! Divine.
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Now wouldn’t you be surprised if I actually did! Thank you for your lovely words Liz.
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