As I mentioned on Instagram, I wasn’t sold on the cereal milk craze Christina Tosi created. I love her and I thought everything else she came up with was amazing but this was too much. I always hated drinking the milk leftover from my cereal and so cereal milk products sounded like torture. But when I started this month of bakers I knew I would do some sort of cereal milk recipe because that’s how she started getting huge. I instantly thought of crème brûlée, because it’s probably my favorite dessert, and it seemed like the perfect fit for an infused dairy product! And it is! I am now an official cereal milk believer! I love this dessert, it’s subtle, yet bold and I think it’s the perfect special treat.
I hope you enjoy it. I have been thinking about this recipe for over a month now and I am so excited for you all to try it! Don’t be intimidated by the fancy French words, it’s actually really easy to make! ;) Let me know if you make it by using #sebbakes
Crème Brûlée 1 batch Cereal Cream (recipe follows) 5 egg yolks 1/ 3 cup sugar extra sugar to sprinkle on top
Heat oven to 325 degrees. 2. Measure out your prepared cereal cream. There should be about two cups of the mixture; if you need a little more add unflavored cream to make up the difference. Pour cereal cream into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer on medium low heat.
3.Using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip egg yolks with the sugar on a medium speed until pale yellow and thick. 4.Change the speed of your mixer to the lowest it will go and continue whipping yolks while you very slowly drizzle in 1/ 4 cup of warm cream. Do this very slowly so the eggs don’t cook! Continue adding the cream, slowly, 1/ 4 cup at a time. 5.Place ramekins into a sheet cake pan. Pour custard mixture into ramekins until it reaches the lower line. Pour hot water in the bottom of cake pan until it comes halfway up the ramekins. Bake for 30-45minutes, until just jiggling in the center and set on the edges. The cook time will all depend on the size and depth of your ramekins.
6.Let ramekins cool in the cake pan, then cover and store in the refrigerator five hours or up to three days.
7. To serve, sprinkle a thin layer of sugar over each ramekin of custard. Use a kitchen torch, the broiler or a large lighter to brown the sugar. There should be a thin, crisp surface of burned sugar on the top. I used a long Scripto lighter. This is why I recommend chilling the custard in the fridge for at least five hours, because otherwise it may take too long to brown the sugar, heating up the custard instead of leaving it cool. At the average grocery store you can find lighters which appear similar to a blow torch. It should show on the package what the flame looks like. The one I purchased was in a pack with one normal style lighter and one with more of a blow torch end. The regular one was blue and the blow torch one was yellow. I left my custard in the fridge for about ten hours and I didn’t have any trouble with it getting too warm from the lighter. You can find relatively cheap kitchen torches (ranging $11-$35) but I couldn’t afford that right now. If you don’t plan on making crème brûlée often I would go with the lighter to save on money.
Cereal Cream
Taken from the cereal milk recipe by Christina Tosi found here https://milkbarstore.com/recipes/cereal-milk/
3 cups cornflakes
4 cups heavy cream
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 generous pinch salt
1. Heat oven to 300° F.
2. Spread cornflakes on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. bake for 15 minutes, until lightly toasted. Cool completely.
3. Transfer the cooled cornflakes to a large pitcher. Pour the cream into the pitcher and stir vigorously. Let steep for 30 minutes at room temperature.
4. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, collecting the cream in a medium bowl. The cream will drain off quickly at first, then become thicker and starchy toward the end of the straining process. Using the back of a wooden spoon, or your hand, wring the cream out of the cornflakes, but do not force the mushy cornflakes through the sieve. (It’s okay if you get a few little pieces into the cream but try not to.)
5. Mix the brown sugar and salt into the cream until fully dissolved. Store in a clean pitcher, or large jar, refrigerated, for up to a week.