Pandan Creme Brulee
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Pandan Creme Brulee is the Southeast Asian twist on the classic French dessert. This recipe uses real pandan leaves, giving this silky, creamy smooth custard a natural green color and a subtle sweet, aromatic flavor.
I grew up in Indonesia where pandan is commonly used in food from savory to sweet dishes. So, I always look for opportunities to infuse pandan flavor into new recipes, such as Pandan Coconut Madeleines, Durian Pandan Snowskin Mooncakes, and Pandan Gula Melaka Butter Cookies.
Pandan, often dubbed the “Vanilla of the East,” is a fragrant tropical herb widely used in cooking across Southeast Asia. It offers a sweet aromatic flavor similar to vanilla with a lovely, grassy aroma that lends a distinct flavor to the food.
As vanilla is an important ingredient in creme brulee, I thought about substituting the vanilla with pandan. To infuse the pandan flavor for this recipe, I blended fresh pandan leaves with milk and strained the pandan juice to capture the vibrant color, taste, and aroma of pandan without using artificially flavored extracts.
What Is Pandan?
Pandan is a tropical plant with fragrant leaves which are used widely for flavoring in Southeast Asian cooking. Pandan leaves are sleek and elongated with a bright green color that grow in a fan-like arrangement. It is a popular and cost-effective substitute for vanilla and is used in a variety of savory and sweet dishes.
What Is Creme Brulee?
Creme brulee is a French dessert that is composed of creamy baked custard and topped with a layer of hardened caramelized sugar. It is normally served slightly chilled; the heat from the caramelizing process tends to warm the top of the custard while leaving the center cool.
Ingredients You Need to Make Pandan Creme Brulee
- Egg yolks. They thicken the custard and add richness.
- White sugar. You can use granulated sugar or castor sugar. Don’t forget the additional sugar for the caramelized topping.
- Heavy cream. Use full-fat heavy cream for creamy custard.
- Whole milk. Mixing the heavy cream with whole milk will make the custard silky and lighter. But if you prefer creamy rich custard, you can substitute the milk with heavy cream.
- Pandan leaves. Use real pandan leaves for natural flavor. In a pinch, you can use pandan extract or paste if you can’t find the pandan leaves.
Tempering the Eggs
When adding the hot cream mixture to the yolks, you need to slowly bring the egg mixture up to the temperature of the cream to prevent the eggs from curdling. This is called tempering. To do this, slowly drizzle the hot cream into the egg mixture while constantly whisking.
When done correctly, your combined cream and egg mixture will create a smooth liquid base. However, if the mixture starts looking like scrambled eggs, you will need to start over.
Baking Using a Bain-Marie Method
Custard can overcook easily. To ensure the custard cooks slowly and evenly, use a bain-marie or hot water bath. This technique is designed to cook delicate dishes such as custards, cheesecakes, and flans without breaking or curdling them. To do this, place the filled ramekins in a small baking pan. Next, fill the pan with boiling water and bake.
When Is Custard Done Baking?
The custard is done baking when it has set but it still wobbles or jiggles when you tap the side of the ramekin. When you lightly touch the center of one of the custards, it should spring back just a bit and leave the surface of your finger clean. The color should be even without brown spots.
When baked correctly, creme brulee is supposed to be a soft custard with a texture like Greek yogurt. You should not be able to cut through it like cake! When you scoop some from the ramekin, the walls of the custard remaining in the ramekin should barely be holding upright, but shouldn’t run everywhere either. It should melt in your mouth like a rich, velvety cream. It shouldn’t even have the texture of soft jelly!
Bruleeing the Top
Once the custard has been baked and chilled, it is time to brulee the top. Sprinkle the top of the custard with sugar and tap the sides of the ramekins to spread the sugar evenly. Remove the excess sugar. If there is too much sugar, it will start to burn before it melts evenly. Use a blow torch to melt the sugar into a solid caramel layer.
How to Brulee the Top Without a Torch?
Traditionally, the custard is cooled and then covered in a sprinkling of sugar before it’s torched. A torch is handy in giving the creme brulee that burnt topping without really heating the rest of the previously chilled custard.
If you don’t have a blow torch, you can brulee in the oven using the broiler. Watch them carefully! Otherwise, they will burn very quickly. Let them cool before serving.
You can also brulee the top using a large metal spoon. Heat the spoon over the flame of your stovetop. it’s hot, then carefully press it against the sugar-topped custard. The heat will caramelize the sugar!
Make Ahead
The custard can be made 3 days in advance, covered, and refrigerated, however, you’ll want to wait until serving to add the sugar topping. Creme brulee is best served within 20 minutes after you have bruleed the sugar topping. If you wait longer, you risk the sugar absorbing moisture and the caramelized top softening.
More French Dessert Recipes
- Thai Tea Creme Brulee
- Vanilla Madeleines
- Almond Financiers
- Crepes Suzette
- Sable Breton Cookies (French Butter Cookies)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
- 2/3 cup (160 ml) whole milk
- 10 pandan leaves
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup (50 gr) granulated/castor sugar
Topping
- 2-3 tbsp granulated/castor sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300F/150°C.
- Add egg yolks and sugar to a medium bowl. Whisk until combined. Set aside.
- Use scissors to cut pandan leaves into 1-2 inch pieces into a blender. Add milk and blend until the leaves are fully pulverized. Strain the mixture into a saucepan. Squeeze all the juice out as much as you can.
- Add heavy cream to the pan. Heat on low heat until the mixture begins to simmer. Do not boil. Remove from the heat.
- While whisking constantly, gradually drizzle the hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture slowly to avoid curdling.
- Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring cup with a pouring lip.
- Divide the mixture into 4 3-inch/7.5 cm diameter ramekins and place them on a baking pan. Skim off the foam and pop any air bubbles. Pour the boiling water into the baking pan, being careful not to let any water splash into the ramekins.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the custard is set but there is still a slight wobble. The depth of the ramekins will determine how long it takes for the custards to bake. Remove ramekins from the water.
- Leave to cool completely at room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
- When ready to serve, put 1 1/2 to 2 tsp sugar on each custard. Tap the side of the ramekins to spread the sugar evenly. Torch the top using a blow torch, moving in a circular pattern until the whole surface is caramelized to a deep amber color. You can also put it in a broiler to achieve the same result.
Tried this yesterday and they taste amazing