By Victoria Abbott

We love crème brulée and we really loved the idea of this strawberry yogurt crème brulée. The only problem was
that neither one of us had a crème brulée torch. No problem, MJ said, and tried to burn the sugar
under her gas broiler. It made a lovely caramel topping that was not without its
charms, but couldn’t be called brulée. We
would need a torch. But it seemed like such an extravagance. But … we couldn’t resist. Finally after
reading up on it, we learned that a plumber’s blowtorch will do the same job, is
less expensive and has more applications.
So now we own one. Between us.
Here’s Easy Strawberry-Yogurt Brulée
Stir in one tablespoon of sugar and mix gently.
Transfer to 3 or 4 heatproof ramekins. Decorate with slices of strawberries
Sprinkle two tablespoons sugar
over each and pass the flame of a torch over the sugar for about thirty seconds
until it’s melted and browned. Don’t
sprinkle the sugar until you are ready to fire the torch – it may melt into the
mixture. You may notice we took this outside the first time to avoid setting the house on fire, but it was without incident.
That’s one of those things we
learned the hard way. We think that with practice, we’ll be able to do this with one
tablespoon of sugar.
Stay tuned for updates. If you’ve had experiences with torches, we sure
hope you’ll comment.
By way of celebrating our success, we sliced strawberries and dropped them into frosty glasses of sparkling wine. This is a nice festive touch with sparkling water too. Please join us in a toast!
Too bad strawberry season doesn’t last forever.
Victoria Abbott is a collaboration between Victoria Maffini and her mother, Mary Jane Maffini (she of the diet).. The Christie Curse, their first book collector mystery, launched in March 2013 and The Sayers Swindle, the second in the series will be out in December. Please let them know how you like it!
There
are lots of ways to reach them. Sign up for their newsletter at
www.victoria-abbott.com.
Come over and friend them on Facebook
www.facebook.com/BookCollectorMysteries www.facebook.com/maryjane.maffini
Wait! I have a torch! (Actually it's my daughter's, but she decided not to take it with her to the wilds of Chicago). I'm ready! Now to find strawberries.
ReplyDeleteSheila, I'd love to know how the butane torch works on the crust. Our plumbers' torch uses propane. It is mildly addictive and now I'm thinking of applying a brulee to everything edible that I see.
DeleteBrilliant! And just in time for Bastille Day tomorrow - Vive la France! I confess that I do not have a creme brulée torch. You are quite right that granulated sugar under a broiler is a bust. A much better alternative (and what I do) is use raw sugar. I've found that raw sugar (with its larger, harder granules) will work pretty well under a broiler to give you a sugar crust--and I'll bet you'll get even better results with your torch. Great post, happy Bastille Day, and I'll take a sip of that strawberry-laced bubbly with you!
ReplyDelete~ Cleo
Ah Bastille Day! To the barricades with a cool and icy drink!
DeleteLovely to see you back, Cleo.
XOX
Loved the post! You make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Elaine! We love to make you laugh!
DeleteOh, yum, I love bruleed anything. Or just about anything. :)
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Daryl
But not kolrabi!
DeleteThanks and hugs back.
You're so funny! I have a torch. I confess that I hoped to brulee with a long automatic lighter, smaller and easier to handle. Alas, that didn't work very well, either. I love your idea. Yum!
ReplyDeleteKrista
Your way sounds more elegant, Krista! We may be able to use ours as a weapon in a book. Dibs!
Delete