In the few days I had at home last weekend I managed to catch the very beginning of red currant season. Red currants are still fairly uncommon in the US. Astringent and seedy, I can see why they don’t fit in with the sugar-sweet raspberries and mellow blueberries we favor, but I’d like to make a case for them. Firstly, they’re beautiful – translucent globes that shine with red juice. They freeze well – and when frozen they make the most satisfying marble sound as you drop them into a glass bowl. They also add an acidic complexity to otherwise saccharine fruit desserts.

I was worried the currants might be overripe by the time I returned from my trip to Asia. I wanted to make sure I could use at least a few in a new recipe, so I picked the reddest of the bunch. With them (and some frozen ones leftover from last year), I made a Red Currant Crème Brûlée, inspired in equal parts by dinner at ForettaBarinn last week in Iceland, where I had a delicious rhubarb crème brûlée, and by Nigel Slater’s beautiful cookbook, Ripe. Trevor has promised to watch over the rest of the berries and optimize their harvest so that I can enjoy as many as possible when I get back home.

Sometimes when people ask me what my favorite food is, I tell them that it’s cream. This is only partially a joke. Accordingly, crème brûlée is one of my all-time favorite desserts, and it can be very difficult for me to not order it. Luckily (dangerously?) it’s very easy to make at home – just a simple custard of egg, cream, and sugar, gently baked in a bain marie.

This particular crème brûlée – with a layer of homemade red currant jam on the bottom – was exceptional. The sweet, silky smooth custard just barely punctuated by bursts of tart red currant jelly, the crackling burnt sugar crust – it’s more than the sum of its parts, for sure. I only wish I hadn’t inadvertently calculated the nutrition facts when pouring all two cups of lovely cream into the bowl. If I hadn’t known, I would have eaten more.

I didn’t remove the seeds from my homemade red currant jam because I don’t mind them. But if you want a really smooth jam, strain the jelly through a fine mesh strainer after simmering. You can also use store-bought red currant jelly if you don’t have any of your own fresh currants around.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door in the box on the right, on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Thanks for reading!

More Red Currant Recipes…

Red Currant Crumb Bars

Red Currant Kompot

Red Currant Chutney

Red Currant Crème Brûlée

A fruit-on-the-bottom version of Crème Brûlée using a thin layer of homemade red currant jam. 

Inspired by Nigel Slater’s Ripe and the crème brûlée at Forettabarinn.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen red currants, stems removed
• 1/3 cup plus 6 TBS of sugar, divided, plus more for caramelizing the tops of the custards
• 1 TBS raspberry liqueur
• 2 cups of heavy cream
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 4 large egg yolks

Instructions

1. For the red currant jam: Combine the red currants, 6 TBS of sugar, and the raspberry liqueur in a small saucepan. Lightly crush some of the currants with the back of a wooden spoon to release their juices. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer until the currants have burst and softened and the sauce has thickened to the consistency of a thin jelly (it will continue to thicken as it cools). This should take about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat. If a very smooth jam is desired, strain through a fine-mesh strainer while still hot, discarding the seeds. I prefer to use it un-strained. Set jam aside and let cool to room temperature.
2. For the crème brûlée: Preheat the oven to 325F. Place the cream in a clean, medium-sized saucepan. Carefully slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and use a small spoon to scrape the vanilla seeds into the cream. Add the vanilla bean to the cream as well. Heat cream over low heat until it just reaches a slight simmer, stirring the cream frequently to prevent a skin from forming. Once it reaches a simmer, immediately remove from the heat and let steep for 4-5 minutes. After 5 minutes, use a spoon to remove the vanilla bean.
3. In a large, heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar together until the egg yolks are pale in color and the sugar is mostly dissolved. While continuing to whisk the yolks, pour the warm cream over the egg and sugar mixture. Whisk until very well combined.
4. Divide the red currant jam between four 6-oz ramekins, spreading the jam out so there is a thin layer on the bottom of each ramekin. Carefully pour the cream mixture over the top of the jam, doing your best not to mix the jam and the cream. Place the filled ramekins in a large, high-sided baking dish or casserole. Carefully fill the baking dish with very hot water so that the water reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Don’t get any water inside the ramekins! Carefully transfer the baking dish to the preheated oven. Bake until the centers of the custards are just barely set – they should still jiggle slightly when the dish is moved – about 45-55 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely, then remove the ramekins from the  baking dish, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours.
5. Just prior to serving, remove the chilled crème brûlées from the fridge. Spoon a thin, even layer of sugar over the top of each custard. Use a pastry torch to caramelize the sugar until it is melted and browned all over, forming a thin crust on the top of each crème brûlée (here’s a video to help!). Serve immediately.

Notes

You will need a pastry torch and 6-oz oven-safe ramekins for this recipe.

The post Red Currant Crème Brûlée appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

If halloween were a more elegant holiday than it is, this is what I would serve at halloween parties – smooth, silky creme brulee with a hint of roasted pumpkin and fall spices, topped with spicy garam masala pumpkin seeds. As it is, we’ll save this for fancier events and stick to the garish chocolate and peanut butter combinations tonight. I’m a creme brulee fiend – I can never resist ordering it for dessert when we’re out for dinner – so when Trevor made this amazing version at home he won me over all over again. This recipe is all him, so I’ll let him tell you its story…

A couple of months ago, when we started cutting into our very first home-grown Sugar Pie pumpkins, I decided I really wanted to do something besides endless pies with them. My first thought was ‘Oh! pumpkin creme brulee!’ The pumpkins we grew have a lot of natural sweetness, and would be perfect for a light creme brulee. A quick google, however, revealed that I wasn’t the first, or even the fifth person to think of it. The internet is full of pretty well-established pumpkin creme brulee recipes.

Demoralized, I decided to play with the flavors of roasted pumpkin seeds. Rather than salt and oil, I settled on the sweet, caramel-y flavors of Indian spices with a little kick. Cumin, masala, and chili powder paired nicely with the sweetness of the ginger and the nutty seed flavor. So I made these once, and they were gone in about a day, (mostly my fault).

I figured that the crunchy, crystallized seeds would be the perfect garnish for a bruleed crust, and would add a little something different to the pumpkin creme brulee recipes that were already out there. So with the seeds as a starting point, I threw some darker, intense spices into the milk while making the custard. Adding too much pumpkin to a creme brulee recipe is problematic for the final set of the custard, so the autumn flavor really has to come from the spices. The amounts aren’t enough to hit you over the head, but it’s definitely more than your classic vanilla bean dessert. It turned into a classy dessert with a little something extra, and I think it made Katie pretty happy. So it’s all good.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+. Thanks for reading!

Garam Masala Pumpkin Seeds

Makes 1 cup of seeds.

• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ⅛ tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garam masala
• ⅛ tsp ginger
• ½ tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 ½ tbsp canola oil

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine sugar, salt and spices.
2. Combine pumpkin seeds and oil in a separate bowl, stirring to coat seeds completely. Add half of the sugar mixture to the seeds and stir to coat.
3. Spread the seeds evenly over  a baking sheet and bake for 30 min, stirring every 8-10 minutes, until the seeds just begin to brown, and become crunchy.
4. Before the seeds begin to cool, add the remaining sugar mixture, and stir to coat.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

Serves 4. Adapted from The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts.

• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• ½ cup whole milk
• ⅛ tsp ground ginger
• 3 whole cloves
• ⅛ tsp ground cardamom
• ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• ¼ cup pumpkin puree
• 4 cups boiling water
• ⅓ cup white sugar (for sprinkling)
• ⅓ cup turbinado sugar (for sprinkling)

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Combine milk and cream along with the spices in a small sauce pan and heat over medium heat until the mixture begins to steam heavily and give off a nutty aroma. Do not let the mixture come to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and allow the milk to steep for 15 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar and egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
3. Strain the whole spices and any skin that formed from the milk mixture. Add the strained milk to the egg yolks and sugar, stirring constantly. Once combined, add the pumpkin puree and mix until smooth.
4. Divide the mixture between four creme brulee dishes, and set in a large baking dish. Fill the baking dish with boiling water so that the water reaches to just below the lip of the creme brulee dishes. Bake in the oven for 30-40min, checking after 30 minutes for done-ness. The custards should be firm, but jiggly. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight, covering with plastic wrap, but ensuring the wrap does not touch the surface of the custard.
5. Combine the two sprinkling sugars in a small bowl, and remove the dishes from the refrigerator, uncovering them carefully. Spread the sugars evenly in an ⅛” layer over the top of the custard, taking care not to disturb the surface.
6. Move a lit pastry torch over the surface of the creme brulee such that the tip of the blue flame is about 1 ½” away from the surface of the sugar. Keep the torch moving over the sugar until it begins to bubble slightly and turn a light brown.
7. Allow the sugar to cool. Sprinkle masala pumpkin seeds over the top and serve immediately.

The post Pumpkin Creme Brulee with Garam Masala Pumpkin Seeds appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.