Darjeeling Infused Crème Brûlée

Crème brûlée is my all time favourite dessert. It's just so satisfying to crack through the upper layer of caramelized sugar to reveal luscious, dreamy, silken custard. Being British, I love tea, so I thought infusing the cream with tea leaves would be a perfect French-British fusion, both refined and homely at the same time, with an unexpected back note of flavour. 

Since I've been meaning to watch a number of films recently, with The Darjeeling Limited, directed by Wes Anderson being top of my list, I thought it would be a great idea to use darjeeling to flavour this dessert (my love of films and food have often intertwined). 

I really think that it works so well. Darjeeling is a delicate, fruity, slightly spicy tea that does not over power the crème brûlée at all. But you can also leave out the tea leaves, and stick to vanilla pod if you'd rather, or indeed go for an entirely different tea such as Earl Grey, or even try coffee! 

I'm also happy to say that my blog is officially now one year old! Yesterday marked the first anniversary of mermaids and madeleines, so I wish to say thank you to all my dear readers and friends and family who have inspired the work that went into this blog. 

Darjeeling Infused Crème Brûlée

For this recipe we will be using a water bath to slowly cook the custards, this ensures that they don't scramble and cook slowly and gently 

Makes 8-9 small ramekins 

Ingredients:
360ml double cream
240ml whole milk
3 heaped tsp Darjeeling tea leaves
6 egg yolks
25g/1oz caster sugar
8-9 tsp demerara sugar 

1) Heat the oven to 150C (170 non fan). Place the ramekins into your largest, deepest roasting tray. Start by putting the cream, milk and tea leaves in a pan. Bring to a simmer and leave to infuse on a low heat for twenty minutes. 

2) Place the yolks in a medium bowl and whisk together with the sugar. Pour over the cream (should just be warm) and combine, stirring to mix. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and squeeze the remaining tea leaves left in the sieve, to ensure that you get a good tea flavour. You can taste the mixture to see if it is strong enough. 

3. Put the custard mixture into a measuring jug and divide between the ramekins and pour cold water into the tin until it comes two thirds of the way up the ramekins. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the custard is fully set, a only wobbles very slightly when shaken. Put the ramekins straight into the fridge, and chill until firm. 

4) To serve these, sprinkle over the demerara sugar over the cold custards and use a blowtorch to caramelize the tops, or alternatively grill these for a few minutes until the top until a hard sugar shell is created.