Aquarius Dessert: Salted Creme Brûlée with Candied Hazelnuts and Spun Sugar Cloud
This is the first creation in my zodiac dessert series where I design a delicious dessert for each sign.
This is for Aquarius.
When surveyed, almost every Aquarian I know mentioned salted caramel as their preferred flavour for dessert. Did I get many details beyond that? No, of course not.
Creme brûlée is simple in preparation but requires a bit of ambition to pull off. A cold-to-the-touch dessert enrobed by a thick, salty crust allows the Aquarian to enjoy a bit of smashing, like they would systems of belief or oppression. Their fierce independence calls for individual serves sizes and an easily customize-able custard. Much like their out-of-the-box thinking, the caramel doesn’t just lie on the surface, candied hazelnuts reach up towards a spun sugar cloud where the Aquarian visionary brilliance can run free. Just like the Aquarian, the cloud is a water bearer. Inspired by their fashion choices, this dessert embodies a sense of balance and lightness that only an Aquarian can effortless achieve.
Creme Brûlée with Candied Hazelnuts and Spun Sugar
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- Flakey salt for sprinkling.
- Optional add ins: lemon or orange zest, instant coffee, culinary lavender, earl grey tea, matcha, ginger, etc.
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 20 hazelnuts, roasted
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 325. Prepare 4-6 ramekins or small dishes in a large baking dish.
- In a pot, heat cream on medium high until bubbling, but not boiling. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and sugar together until well combined and colour begins to lighten, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla or other flavour additions. Put a cloth under your mixing bowl to prevent it from moving. Pour your cream into your egg mixture while whisking to temper the eggs. Begin in small increments of 1/4 cup, whisk thoroughly and repeat. After a few additions, you can pour the cream in continuously while whisking.
- Pour mixture into ramekins and move your dish close the oven. Create a water bath by filling up the baking dish with hot water, about 3/4 of the way up the side of the ramekins. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the mixture is wobbly in the centre, not firm and not sloshy. Remove from oven and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
- Sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of sugar on each ramekin caramelize using a blow torch or under the broiler.
- Prepare your kitchen for a caramel mess. For the spun sugar, you will need two wooden spoons suspended over top of your floor and protruding from your counter. Weigh down the spoons using a heavy bag of flour or sugar on your counter. Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment to catch any mess you may have and put it on the floor under the spoons. Next, carefully skewer each hazelnut so that they can be dipped in caramel. You may need another heavy bag to place on your counter to allow to hazelnuts to cool.
- In a pot, mix sugar and water and put on stove with a candy thermometer attached. Put on medium heat and let come to temperature without stirring. Do not walk away. Pull it off the stove right before it reaches 245 F.
- Allow caramel to cool for a few minutes. Using a whisk, dip into caramel and move it back and forth quickly overtop of the wooden spoons. This should create thin strands of floss between the spoons. Any mess will be easy to clean up, just be careful not to splatter on yourself. You can gather the floss at any time and set aside. Make enough for 4-6 clouds.
- Dip each hazelnut into the caramel and hold above your pot to allow most of the excess caramel to drip down. Place the skewer under your weight on the counter, allowing the long strand of caramel to fall towards the ground. Continue to make 3 hazelnuts for each creme brûlée, you may have some casualties.
- Working carefully, take three candied hazelnut and snap the caramel strands off until all three are the same desired height. Place on creme brûlée and use the caramel strands to stab through a small handful of spun sugar to set it into place. You may lightly torch the bottom of the hazelnuts if they are not staying in place.
- Sprinkle with flakey salt. Serve.