Raspberry Crème Brûlée

Valentine's Day is just around the corner. It's up to us to make it a special day, and that's why Virginia, author of Sweet&Sour, suggests we prepare a delicious raspberry crème brûlée: the perfect dessert to treat our partner and our palate to the most delicious and romantic touch!

I love Crème Brûlée!!!! It’s delicate, smooth, elegant, but with that special touch from the crunchy caramel crust. So this year for Valentine’s Day, it was clear to me: my choice for that day would be Crème Brûlée. But not just any Crème Brûlée, rather a very special one for an occasion like this—a cream all dressed up.

This raspberry Crème Brûlée is special because it has a filling of fresh raspberries at the bottom that will win you over, and it also has a mousse-like texture that makes it delicate, light, and melt-in-the-mouth. In short, a dessert to surprise your “sweetheart,” but also one that will let you finish any meal with a winning bet. Serving crème brûlée for dessert is a safe bet—but in this case, it also comes with a surprise and a stylish makeover.

Crème Brûlées are simple; they’re nothing more than custards cooked in a water bath with a layer of sugar that’s caramelized, creating a deliciously crunchy crust! In this case, the custard includes a raspberry coulis that, as I said, gives it a very special touch. It’s also an ideal dessert, low-effort and something you can have prepared in advance.

I have submitted them in the mini ceramic cocottes by "Le Creuset" that will guarantee you a perfect presentation, because they go from the oven to the table perfectly, and with their lid, they go in the fridge, ensuring they stay perfectly protected. I love them, and although I have them in almost every color, for Valentine’s Day, the red and the black are the best.

Let's get to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS (For 6 mini cocottes)

• 600 ml of fresh liquid cream or 35% fat cream
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 6 egg yolks
• 70 gr of icing sugar
• 3 tablespoons of raspberry coulis
• 18-20 fresh raspberries (not frozen)
• 100 gr of brown sugar (Cassonade)

For the raspberry coulis:

• 250 gr. raspberries
• 2-3 teaspoons of sugar.
• The juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons of water

PREPARATION:

We start by preparing the raspberry coulis

1. Place the raspberries to macerate with the sugar in a saucepan for about 20 minutes. Once they’ve macerated and begun to release their juices, cook them over heat with the lemon juice until they break down into a sort of compote. If it’s very thick, add the two tablespoons of water.
2. Remove from the heat and strain to remove the seeds. Set aside.

Let's go with the Crème Brûlées

1. Preheat the oven to 110ºC, top and bottom heat, and choose an oven dish where the 6 fit well mini cocottes.
2. Mix the cream or crème fraîche with the vanilla extract. Set aside.
3. We beat the egg yolks with the sugar until they turn pale. In this case I do it with my Kitchen Aid robot and the balloon whisk attachment, starting at low to medium speed and increasing to high speed. You can also do it with a hand mixer, but this step is important, because it’s what will give our creams that lightness and mousse-like texture.
4. Add the raspberry coulis and mix well with a balloon whisk or a spatula until it becomes a smooth, homogeneous cream.
5. Add the cream along with the vanilla extract and mix again.
6. We place 3 fresh raspberries inside the mini cocottes and pour the cream over them. The same amount of cream in each one. My trick: do it by spoonfuls, the same number in each mini casserole.
7. We deposit the mini casserole dishes without a lid, in the baking dish, and fill with hot water until it reaches 3/4 of the height of the cocottes. Careful not to splash the creams with the water. If you want, as a precaution you can place the little lids while you pour the hot water, but remove them before putting them in the oven.
8. Bake in a preheated oven for about 45–50 minutes. The custards should look set, though they may be slightly jiggly. Once they cool, they will firm up completely.
9. Remove from the oven, let cool to room temperature, cover with their lids, and refrigerate for about 2 hours.
10. When serving, sprinkle light brown sugar (Cassonade in France) over the surface of each custard and caramelize it with a kitchen torch or, if needed, under the oven broiler.
11. We ship immediately.
12. Pure delight. These crème brûlées have a mousse-like texture that doesn’t get heavy, and the crisp caramelized top makes them a real treat—this one with a red berry flavor!!!

Tips:

- Crème brûlée with fresh raspberries should be eaten quickly, since the raspberries release their juice as they bake and thin the custard. That’s why the raspberries you use for the bottom should be fresh, not frozen. Frozen ones would release water and make the custard watery. If you don’t put raspberries inside, they keep perfectly from one day to the next.

- To make the raspberry coulis, you can use frozen raspberries.

- Caramelize right before serving, otherwise the caramel will soften.

- Cassonade sugar is what turbinado brown sugar is called in France. It is second-production brown sugar, and therefore contains less molasses and is moist. You can substitute it with regular brown sugar or light brown sugar.