Raspberry crème brûlée

Valentine's Day is very close. Making it a special day is in our hands, and that is why Virginia, author of Sweet&Sour , suggests us to prepare a delicious raspberry crème brûlée: the perfect dessert to give our partner and our palate with the most delicious and romantic touch!

I love Crème Brûlée¡¡¡¡ they are delicate, smooth, elegant, but with that special point that the crunchy caramel crust gives them. So this year for Valentine's Day, it was clear to me, my proposal for that day would be Crème Brûlée. But be careful, not just any Crûlée, but a very special one for such an occasion, a cream dressed in a long dress.

This raspberry Crème Brûlée is special because it has a fresh raspberry filling in the background that makes you fall in love, but it also has a mousse-like texture that makes it delicate, light and melting on the palate. As said, a dessert to surprise your "fall in love", but also a dessert with which you can end any meal, with a winning horse. Because serving crème brûlée for dessert is a safe bet, but in this case also, with a surprise and restyling included.

Crème Brûlée are simple, they are nothing more than creams cooked in a bain-marie to which a layer of sugar is added that caramelizes, creating a delicious crunchy crust¡¡¡¡. In this case, the cream incorporates a raspberry coulis that gives it a very special touch. It is also an ideal dessert, without much effort and that you can have prepared in advance.

I have presented them in mini ceramic cocottes from "Le Creuset" that will ensure a presentation of 10, because they go from the oven to the table perfectly, and with their lid, they go through the fridge, ensuring that they are perfectly protected. I love them and although I have almost all the colors, for Valentine's Day, red and black seem the most.

Let's go with the recipe.

INGREDIENTS (For 6 mini cocottes )

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

For the raspberry coulis:

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

PREPARATION:

We start by preparing the raspberry coulis

1. We put the raspberries to macerate with the sugar in a saucepan for about 20 minutes. Once macerated and they have begun to release their juices, we take them to the fire with the lemon juice, until they dissolve into a kind of compote. If it is very dense, add the two tablespoons of water.
2. Remove from the heat and strain to remove the seeds. We booked.

Let's go with the Crème Brûlée

1. Preheat the oven to 110ºC, heat up and down and choose a baking dish where the 6 mini cocottes fit well.
2. Mix the fresh cream or cream with the vanilla extract. We booked.
3. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale. In this case I do it with my Kitchen Aid robot and the balloon accessory, starting at medium low speed and increasing to high speed. You can also do it with a hand blender, but this step is important, because it will be what will give our creams that lightness and that mousse-like point.
4. Add the raspberry coulis and mix well with a balloon whisk or a spatula, until integrated into a homogeneous cream.
5. Add the cream with the vanilla extract and integrate again.
6. Place 3 fresh raspberries inside the mini cocottes and pour the cream over them. The same amount of cream in each. My trick, do it by spoonfuls, the same number in each mini cocotte .
7. We deposit the mini cocottes without lid, in the baking dish and fill with hot water until reaching 3/4 parts of the height of the cocottes. Be careful not to splash our creams with water. If you want as a precaution you can place the lids while you pour the hot water, but remove them before taking them to the oven.
8. Bake in a preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes. The creams look firm although they may be slightly shaky. Once they cool down they will thicken completely.
9. Remove from the oven, let cool to room temperature, cover with their lids and refrigerate for about 2 hours.
10. At the time of serving, we sprinkle light brown sugar (in France Cassonade), on the surface of each cream and caramelize with a kitchen torch or, where appropriate, under the oven grill.
11. We serve immediately.
12. pure delight. These crème Brûlée have a mousse-like texture that does not tire and the combination with the caramel on the crunchy surface make it a real treat, in this case with a red fruit flavour!

Tips:

- The crème Brûlée with the fresh raspberries must be eaten quickly, as the raspberries give off their liquid when baked and liquefy the cream. That is why it is also necessary that the raspberries you use for the background are fresh and not frozen. The frozen ones would release the water and watery the cream. If you don't put the raspberries inside, they are perfect at least overnight.

- To prepare the raspberry coulis you can use frozen raspberries.

- The caramelization process should be done at the time of serving, or else the caramel will soften.

- Cassonade sugar is how turbinado brown sugar is known in France. It is the second production brown sugar, and therefore contains less molasses and is moist. You can replace it with common brown sugar or also with Brown Light Sugar.