Holiday Desserts : Chai Crème Brûlée: Thick and creamy chai and vanilla flavored custard with caramelized sugar on top – what else can make a holiday dessert more elegant and perfect?
I am known as a positive and bright person. Ask my colleagues or friends on Facebook and they will say “Oh she is so bright and cheerful.” Yes that’s what I am known for and I would prefer to stay that way. However, my blog is my journal, where I state my mental feelings and state. I know a very few read my blog posts – so I am safe to write here. 🙂
It’s common for human beings to experience depression. It does not matter what sort of depression or how it starts. It just happens. And believe it or not, even the most social person on the earth also goes through it. I mentioned in my last post that I am fighting with never-ending depression.
Getting depressed is normal; however, coping is the hardest part. What I do is get myself occupied. I always do something – like cleaning, reading, cooking, shooting, and looking for photo inspirations in Pinterest. I just occupy myself so much that I forget about my depression. And this is how slowly I get out of it. However, in this time, I try to keep social and personal reaction to a bare minimum. It helps to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings.
I work in a company so I have to deal with people – whether I hate or not. I can’t stay home and avoid people forever. So I come to my desk and work as much as I can. I only talk when I need to. I know this phase will pass; I just hope and pray it passes soon.
Let’s move on from this sad and dark cloud and focus on something bright and merry.
The holidays are approaching at the speed of a jet plane. Can you believe we are only fifteen days away from Christmas? I hope you all are preparing for it with a lot of hot cocoa and food. This year, from today onwards, I will be posting Christmas desserts and drinks. I will also post some easy and affordable Christmas gift guides pretty soon, so please stay tuned!
However, as I mentioned before, I am not a pastry chef like Alanna from Bojon Gourmet, so my desserts are in no way as good as hers. However, I try my best to bring the best out of my desserts. A couple of weeks back, Alanna posted her Crème Brûlée recipe. After checking her recipe, I realized that it’s not super hard to make.
After researching on Google, I found out that Crème Brûlée can be made with many variations.
- Basic with simple vanilla
- Chai Spiced Crème Brûlée
- Fruit bottom Crème Brûlée
After thinking a lot, I decided to make the second. However, next time, I am going to try the fruit bottom Crème Brûlée as they are a bit healthier to consume.
This is one of the easiest desserts you can prepare. Boil cream with your vanilla and 2 tea bags. Here, I have used Tazo Decaf Chai, but you can make your own or use any kind of chai you like. Strain that cream, whip it up with, egg yolk, sugar and bake until perfection. After that, drizzle on sugar and caramelize it. I have used Newton Zero Butane Lighter Torch – you can find many similar on Amazon. Isn’t that simple?
So, with all these simple steps – you can prepare this royal dessert and impress your guests. And this is how they will be gone in a jiffy.
Recipe for Chai Crème brûlée
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Have a 5 quart casserole dish lined with tea towels to hand, which can fit your Crème brûlée ramekins.
- In a sauce pan, over a medium high heat, heat cream, vanilla beans, scrapes of beans, tea bags and boil for 15 minutes. Take it aside. Strain the vanilla beans and tea bag over a strainer.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks and half a cup of granulated sugar. Whisk it until it’s all blended and lighter in color. Add vanilla bean-cream-chai mixture slowly and keep whisking. Now, pour the milk and egg mixture slowly into ramekins.
- Place them in a casserole dish lined with tea towels. Slowly pour the boiling water in them and carefully put them inside the oven.
- Now, add tin foil over them and loosely cover it. Poke a few holes gently and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until they are a little wobbly at the center.
- Take it aside with oven mitts and cool them on a wiring rack. Transfer them into the refrigerator and refrigerate them for about 3 hours to overnight.
- Remove them from the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle sugar on top of them. With a torch, melt and caramelize them. The sugar should form a thick crust like a lid. Allow it to sit 5 minutes before serving.
You & I did Gif at the same time …..well great minds :))
I love creme brûlée ….crusty and sugary on the top, all those warm spices. I wish I could come over and both of us could sit and chat for hours.
Love all the prep shots ….I can feel am there in your kitchen watching you cook.
Love this post.
Thank you Simi! 🙂
I am amazed at the pictures… really nice! And the creme brulee… no words… 🙂
Beautiful Pictures Dol!! I loved the pic specially with mismatched napkins,plates .. very casual…
They have beauty on their own, right?
Beautiful post Dolphia! This touched a cord because I struggled with depression twice in grad school. It was a very difficult journey but I managed to crawl out of it via counseling and beleive it or not, a Netflix subscription that made me find solace in movies. I am glad you are able to talk about it because Many of us don’t speak about this issue at all, I certainly could not when I was going through my struggles. Chin up and if you need someone to talk to I am always there!
Paroma, Thank you so much for being there. You’re a sweetheart!
If it wasn’t for the egg yolks, I would be happy to eat creme brûlée everyday! Your pictures are so moving, that tempt me to do this soon. And yes, that phase will pass Dolphia. Talking about depression is actually a big step that you have taken, and I sincerely hope that the new year will bring a new phase that erase that phase from your life. Always here if u need to talk!
Jehanne, I am so touched that you expressed to hear my problems. I am indeed very much lucky.