Lavender Orange Crême Brulée -- #recipe by @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  I knew early on—maybe on our 2d date—that crême brulée is Mr. Right’s favorite dessert. My mother knew, too, when we visited her and went to a favorite restaurant. That next Christmas, she gave him a crême brulée set—ramekins, a small kitchen torch, and several boxes of a flavored mix. 

Best. Gift. Ever. Because it keeps on giving!

But we ran through the mixes and went searching for a recipe to make the stuff of the gods from scratch. We’ve adapted it many times using different flavors—the original Orange Cinnamon version appeared in Guilty as Cinnamon. 

A few years ago, we were headed to Mr. Right’s sister’s home for Christmas dinner. She’d said she was keeping it simple—for dessert, she’d buy crême brulée from Costco.

Sacrilege, to my guy. He said no; we’d bring dessert. We baked it that morning, then added the finishing touches—sugar and fire—as the family watched. They were skeptical.

One bite in, we became the official Christmas dessert makers.

So naturally, when we started experimenting with lavender recipes, we wanted to try a lavender version. The lavender is subtle, and oh, so lovely. And I’m here to tell you, you don’t have to wait until Christmas to enjoy it!

Since lavender is commonly grown, and not so commonly used in cooking, heed this reminder Pepper gives: Make sure your lavender buds are food-safe. If you buy them from a reputable commercial source, no worries. No special variety is needed, but if you grow your own or cut a few stalks from a neighbor’s plant, make sure no pesticides or herbicides were used nearby. Lavender is best harvested with the flowers are about 25%-50% open, in the morning before the oils begin to release in the heat of the day. 

(The sharp-eyed among you may notice the recipe says it serves 4, but some pictures show 5. Yield will depend on your ramekin size.)

Lavender Lies Bleeding is out now, in paperback and ebook, with audio on the way. (Details below.)

BONUS: The giveaway from my Sunday Spotlight is still open!

PS: I finally figured out how to embed a PDF of the recipe for easy printing. 

Scroll down to the 💕 for the link. 

Lavender Orange Crême Brulée 

A friend of Pepper’s says forget what they say about cake—crême brulée is the angels’ favorite dessert. Who can argue about that? 

2 cups heavy cream or half and half  

1/2 cup white sugar (divided use)

zest of 1 orange, removed in wide strips with a peeler

3 tablespoons dried lavender buds 

4 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 teaspoons turbinado sugar, for topping

strips of orange peel or lavender sprigs for garnish (optional)

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a small saucepan, combine the cream, 1/4 cup sugar, and orange zest. Lightly crush the lavender buds between your palms, over the pan, to release the essential oils, then toss the buds into the pan. Whisk to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil, then remove from the heat and strain into a bowl to cool. (This step infuses the cream with the aromatics—the orange zest and lavender buds.) 

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla. When the infused cream is cooled to the touch, slowly pour it into the egg mixture and whisk to combine. (Cooling the cream avoids curdling the eggs.)

Place four 4-ounce ramekins or custard cups in a large baking dish or roasting pan. Carefully fill the ramekins with the custard mixture. Place the dish in the oven and carefully pour hot water into the pan, till it reaches about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake until the custard is set around the edges and slightly jiggly in the center, about 35 minutes.

Remove the baking dish from the oven. Lift out the ramekins—tongs work nicely—and cool on a rack at room temperature. (Don’t leave them in the hot water, as the heat would continue to cook the mixture.) When cool, move ramekins to refrigerator to chill for at least an hour before the next step. 

Just before serving, sprinkle a teaspoon of turbinado sugar evenly over the top of each dish. Caramelize the sugar with a kitchen torch. The sugar will harden, turn golden, and become crunchy. If you don’t have a torch, broil the dishes 2 to 3 minutes until the sugar forms a crisp, golden top. Garnish with a curvy strip of orange peel or a sprig of lavender. 

Serves 4.

Bon appetit!

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF! 

LAVENDER LIES BLEEDING: A Spice Shop Mystery -- out now in paperback and ebook, with audio on the way! 

At Seattle Spice Shop, owner Pepper Reece has whipped up the perfect blend of food, friends, and flavor. But the sweet smell of success can be hazardous . . .  

Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavender’s culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-loved—and occasionally maligned—herb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged Liz’s greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty grower’s plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee who’s taken to the hills. 

Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, there’s one in every pocket. 

Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from Liz’s success, and a local growers’ cooperative. She’s also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf. 

As Pepper’s questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud?

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook 

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.  

“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. Watch for Lavender Lies Bleeding, the 9th Spice Shop Mystery, on July 15, 2025.

A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.