This black sesame creme brulee is a deliciously decadent, creamy and rich dessert with a wonderful nutty flavour with a caramelized hard candied top! A unique way to switch up the usual creme brulee and give it a little twist!
Before we start, I must warn you now - This is a very decadent and rich dessert. This is definitely not something I would normally make for myself because I would probably eat all of it on my own and regret it within the hour.
So, why would I share a recipe like this? Because this dessert is delicious and yes, because it is fantastically decadent! This recipe is amazing at dinner parties or family gatherings and should be shared with friends and family! Heck, it's even great to impress on dates (just make sure you have floss on hand to get rid of the black bits off your teeth 😛 )
Speaking of black bits on teeth, this would definitely be a very thematic treat for Halloween parties because of the added affect on your teeth! haha Just a thought!
In the spirit of Halloween, I got together with a few blogger friends to bring you some more really cool black sesame dishes to have fun with this time of year! ...or any time of year really! 🙂
- Black Sesame Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting - Contemplating Sweets
- Charcoal & Black Sesame Sourdough - Scratch Eats
- Black Sesame Cake Roll - The Pink Wings
- Hong Kong Black Sesame Rolls - The Missing Lokness
- Mini Cheesecakes with Black Sesame Crust - Thirsty for Tea
- Totoro Black Sesame Chiffon Cake - What to Cook Today
- Black Sesame Mushi Pan - Chopstick Chronicles
INGREDIENTS
All ingredients should be available at your local grocery store, with the exception of black sesame seeds which might be a bit more trickier to find. I usually find these at an Asian grocery store.
I used the raw unsweetened peanut butter for this (the kind where the oil separates from the nutty stuff) If you prefer to use normal peanut butter, I don't see how that would be a bad thing - just make sure it is unsweetened so you don't over do it with the sugar.
Neat tidbit about the natural raw peanut butters I like to do to prevent it from separating: Stir it up real good when it is in room temperature so it is fully mixed, then put it in the fridge upside down for a day. After a day you can put your peanut butter right side up again and it will stay mixed up as long as you keep it in the fridge! 🙂 No more separation!
I used a kitchen torch to make the sugar coating on top of the creme brulee because I did not have any oven safe containers to make these in.
However, if you have oven safe ramekins the easier route might be to stick them in your oven, with the rack set high near the broiler and broil the sugar topping for 2-5 minutes. Watch it like a hawk because brown sugar loves to burn.
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
Eggy Flavoured Creme Brulee? No Thanks.
There have been many many times in the past where I have created eggy flavoured creme brulee and as much as I love eggy flavoured things, creme brulee is not one of them.
To prevent that from happening you have to make sure to not over cook the eggs while you are making the custard. Make sure the stove is set to low. It is important to keep stirring as well - if your custard sits too long against the bottom of the pot, the eggs will start to scramble and we don't want that. You will know the custard is done when it is thick enough coats the back of your spoon and when you run your finger through it the line stays put. (It will thicken more when it cools)
You can use a double broiler method to cook the custard as well but I'm not a fan of creating extra dishes unless it is absolutely necessary.
Sugary Goodness for the Hard Candy Topping
For this recipe I used both white sugar and brown sugar to create the hard candy topping. I found that when I used just white sugar, it wasn't giving me enough flavour - besides sweet and when I used just brown sugar it didn't give me that nice hard candy topping but it gave me flavour so I combined it!
I added a few teaspoons of white sugar into the dish and swirled it around to lightly coat the tops of the custard with sugar. Any excess white sugar I would pour into the next dish and repeat the step. Then I would lightly sprinkle some brown sugar on top of that and then torched it!
One thing I noticed is, torching it once wasn't good enough to get that crispy hard topping. I torched it once to melt everything as best I could and then let it rest for 5-10 minutes to cool. Once it cooled a bit you will see little un-melted sugar bits on top that the torch didn't fully melt so I would torch it again the second time focusing on the bits that weren't fully melted yet. This produced a solid hard candy coating! 🙂
Don't forget the floss! 😉
Black Sesame Creme Brulee Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 cup heavy cream (whipping cream)
- brown sugar (for candy top at the end)
- white sugar (for candy top at the end)
Black Sesame Paste
- ½ cup black sesame
- 4 tablespoons heavy cream (whipping cream)
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon unsweetened natural peanut butter
- 3 ½ tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
- In food processor, add in all the ingredients under the 'Black Sesame Paste' ingredient list and blitz it until you get a dark black smooth paste. Set this aside
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the yolks until they are creamy with a fork or a whisk. (Approximately 1-2 minutes)
- Stir in the sesame paste into the egg yolks and mix well
- In a small pot, heat up the cream on medium low heat until it is hot. Watch this carefully and keep stirring the cream so it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot.
- Once the cream is hot, slowly add it into the black sesame egg mixture (approximately ½ - 1 cup at a time) Keep stirring the egg mixture while you are doing this to prevent the eggs from cooking.
- Once all the cream has been well mixed into the sesame egg mixture, add it all back into the pot and cook it over the stove on low heat. At this point, it is very important to keep stirring it. We don't want to make scrambled eggs, so keep the custard mix moving and off the bottom of the pot.
- Keep stirring until the mixture thickens. You will know the custard is done when the custard is thick enough to coat the back of your spoon and when you run your finger through it, it keeps its shape around the line. (See blog post for picture)
- Once it is at the right consistency, turn off the heat and remove it from stove immediately. Over cooking the mixture will cause an eggy flavoured creme brulee.
- Pour the mixture into little dessert bowls (preferably oven safe ones) and refrigerate it for a minimum of 1 hour.
- When you are ready to serve it, add 1-2 teaspoon of white sugar to the top of the of the creamy mixture and swirl it around to give it a light coating of sugar, pour any excess sugar to the next bowl and repeat.
- Sprinkle some brown sugar on top and use a kitchen torch to melt the sugar (alternatively if you have oven safe bowls, you can put them under the broiler for 2-4 minutes but you must watch this to make sure they don't burn too much - remember to put the rack slightly higher than usual as well)
- When I'm using a kitchen torch to melt the sugar, I find I get a more consistent sugar candied top if I let it rest for 5 minutes after the first melt and then melt it again at the spots that I missed (the non smooth bumpy leftover sugar bits) but this is completely optional 🙂
- Enjoy immediately! 🙂
NOTES
- An alternative option to cooking the black sesame custard directly over the stove, is to use a double broiler to cook it over a gentler heat. It's not necessary but a more fool proof method to not overcook the custard.
- I used the raw unsweetened peanut butter for this (the kind where the oil separates from the nutty stuff) If you prefer to use normal peanut butter, I don't see how that would be a bad thing - just make sure it is unsweetened so you don't over do it with the sugar.
- Neat tidbit about the natural raw peanut butters I like to do. Stir it up real good when it is in room temperature so it is fully mixed, then put it in the fridge upside down for a day. After a day you can put your peanut butter right side up again and it will stay mixed up as long as you keep it in the fridge! 🙂 No more separation!
NUTRITION
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heather (delicious not gorgeous) says
ahhh this sounds awesome!! i love creme brulee, i love black sesame, so i'm sure i'd love this too (: the pb is unexpected but also makes total sense (if that makes any sense at all).
Joyce says
It's already nutty, why not go full hog crazy nutty right? (and no, no sense at all 😉 ) hee!
Lokness says
I would never think of turning black sesame into creme brûlée. What a brilliant idea! This sounds like a dream for black sesame lovers. A truly rich and decadent dessert! And thank you for the peanut butter tip. Learning something new every day. 🙂