PressureCooker Instant Pot Creme Brulee because ... just because

I absolutely love creme brulee, seriously, I order it at every restaurant simply because the rich cool soft texture against that shatteringly crisp caramel top is as close to my idea of culinary heaven you can get to.  THAT being said, I also make a mean creme brulee, today I'm going to show you my two cheater methods.  ONE is that I make the custard in the pressure cooker, no it's not faster but it IS easier and there's no actual cooking or supervision involved, press a button and go do you nails or eat bonbons or whatever else the world thinks we stay at home moms do.  TWO is the best secret method of making the topping to brulee in the whole entire world, I'm about to share the best secret ever.  So, without much more ado, let's get to my creme brulee.

TRACY'S CREME BRULEE IN THE PRESSURE COOKER INSTANT POT AND AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF MAKING THE CARAMEL TOPPING

INGREDIENTS

Custard:

4 egg yolks
1/4 scant cup of sugar
2 cups cream or cream/half&half combination
tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Topping:

3/4 cup sugar
2 TB water

METHOD  FOR CUSTARD

Put 2 cups of water in the pressure cooker and place a trivet in the bottom.
IN a bowl, combine the custard ingredients, mix well and divide between four ramekins.
Cover each loosely with a piece of tin foil, place in cooker,
HIGH PRESSURE for 10 minutes
TURN off cooker when the timer goes off and let pressure come down naturally, about 10 minutes.
Remove ramekins from cooker, leave to cool to room temperature then put in the fridge for at least 3 hours.


METHOD AND VIDEO FOR SUGAR TOPPING

Combine the sugar and water in a microwave safe bowl, cook until a dark caramel color.  Mine took 5 mins, 30 seconds.
Immediately pour the caramel onto a silpat or non stick sheet.
**I'm NOT even going to go on at length about how stinking hot this is and how badly you'll be burned if you're not careful**
Leave to cool completely and harden, put in a blender or food processor and turn it into dust.
THIS is what you'll sprinkle and brulee on the custards, trust me, you're going to love it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaRvi10yDm4&feature=youtu.be



I'll add the final brulee video when I do it later today but I wanted to get the recipes and videos up for the custard and toppings...  yeah, this is going to be good

Here is the whole video

/enjoy

MY version of the Brazilian Flan, yeah, you're going to want to make this

I grew up enjoying a custard dessert with caramel on the bottom, it's called creme caramel.
I love creme caramel.

I moved to Texas and voila, my beloved creme caramel is called Flan.
Ok, I'm easy, I still love creme caramel Flan.  Ok, Flan.

THEN while researching something completely different I stumbled upon Brazilian Flan.  Seriously?  it appears the only difference is the blending and the addition of sweetened condensed milk.  Wow, there's nothing wrong with that at all.

After some more research and testing, I came up with this, my version of the Brazilian Flan.  It's thicker and creamier than it's French and Mexican relations and that's ok in my book.  It's a snap to throw together, makes a ton (10 ramekins!) and did I mention delicious??  It's also in a jar, Flan in a Jar, baby.

It occupies that spot in time and space between a flan and a creme brulee.  It's custardy and creamy and light and sweet and rich all at the same time.  You're going to have to make this.

BRAZILIAN STYLE CREME CARAMEL FLAN in a Jar - MY VERSION

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (or make your own)
1 (scant) can (use empty ^^ can) milk
4 eggs, Large or better
pinch salt
dribble of vanilla
nutmeg if you're in the mood

Combine in a blender and blend till well combined, leave to settle and the bubbles to subside, or skim them off.

Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar in  a 4 cup pyrex measuring cup, add a little water to moisten.  Microwave on high about 6 minutes, until it's the color you like.

Divide hot sugar mixture between 10 ramekins or the 4 oz glass jars I use for everything.  Put them in a dish with a towel on the bottom then divide the caramel.

Fill with the milk egg mixture

Pour hot water to 1/2 up the sides of the containers and pop ainto a 350 preheated oven for 40 minutes.  The top browns, don't freak out, it's supposed to.  The condensed milk is the culprit, don't fret.

When they're set but a little jiggly, transfer them to a rack and leave to cool.  Pop the lids on the jars and throw them in the fridge till tomorrow or until they're really cold.

Invert onto a plate or just dig in.

Rich, cold, caramelly, sumptuous, delicious, tasty, yummy, moorish, the reason to get out of bed in the morning, the middle of the day or the middle of the night.

You're welcome :)

ENJOY!

Put the ramekins or jars in a pan om a towel.  Mix the egg and milks in a blender and set aside

  

 Make the caramel in the microwave, this took about 6 minutes on high.  I'd say be careful, it's hot, but then  we all know boiling sugar is hot so I'm not going to say it, we're not idiots.

 

Divide the caramel between the jars then fill with the milk and egg mixture.  Bake for 40 then remove to a rack to cool completely.  

Put them in the fridge, covered and leave them to get icy cold.  

(confession:  I love them warm)

 

 

That's it, make them, enjoy them then make some more :) 

Tracy

Biscuits baked in sweet milk . Completely old fashioned comfort food and the best, sweetest, breakfast treat or dessert EVER.

We all know I love a good 'old lady' recipe.  I read antique cook books all the time.  I have a stack of old cookbooks ranging from 1890 and onward on my kitchen table at all times.  Whenever I can steal away a moment, I will sit and browse through them with a quiet glass of wine, enjoying the simple pleasure of them OR I will read them voraciously if I am in search of something new and fabulous.

A few years ago, I came across a recipe for biscuits baked in sweet milk and it tweaked my curiosity.  It is a breakfast item?  Biscuits?  Is it dessert?  It's sweet?  Is sweet milk regular milk?  I make a rather killer biscuit, can I use MY biscuits for this?  Cinnamon?  Oh wait, I LOVE cinnamon rolls... is this a cinnamon roll in milk?  OH OH this is EXACTLY the sort of recipe I needed in my repertoire. 

I started playing with the recipe and tweaking and pulling and pushing and came up with my own version that I present to you here.  It's lusciously old fashioned feeling.  It's rich and creamy and light and airy and tender and there's little crisp bits and the milk becomes thick and unctuous like a custard and you pour it over the biscuit.  There are few things I make regularly that I like better than this.  Seriously, I thought about holding this one close to the chest as my own but then I realized that you need to be as happy as I and my local tester.  It's full of nursery memories.  It's as good on a cold winters day to warm up as in the middle of Texas heat in July.  It's happiness making food 

I made it today and took it, straight from the oven to her house and had coffee and a visit and the children all had heaping helpings of it.  It confirmed to me that you need to be able to produce this at your whim.

The recipe is painfully simple but so complex and divine in it's simplicity.  It's almost the perfect example of why I read the old old old cookbooks.  They absolutely, completely, totally knew what they were doing.  

Make this, you'll feel the happy.  I promise. 

TRACY'S BISCUITS BAKED IN SWEET MILK

Biscuits: 
2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup milk (plus a teaspoon or two if you need it to make a lovely dough)
Middle bit:
1/2 cup butter/margarine combo
handful of sugar for coating (1/4 to 1/3 cup?)
cinnamon, the amount you want to shake on
Sauce:
2 cups milk
2/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
healthy dribble of vanilla

QUICKIE instructions: 

Make biscuit dough.  Roll it out and cover with butter/margarine.  Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and roll up.  Cut into 1 inch pieces and arrange in a lightly greased dish.  Heat the milk/sugar/vanilla to boiling point (small bubbles around the edge) and pour over the biscuits.

Bake 350 for 30-40 minutes.  Allow to sit about 10 minutes before diving in and completely devouring. 

LONG winded, play by play, with commentary pictures and method:

Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly grease a 8x8 (I use round) baking dish.

Combine the flour and shortening.  Mix with your fingertips until it looks like wet sand.  
   
Add 1/2 cup milk, all at once, and mix with a fork until it's a lovely, soft, dough.  It should clear the side of the bowl and come together without being sticky.  You can add a little dribble of milk more if you need.
   
Put dough on lightly floured surface and roll to about 10x10?  Don't measure, here's my hand as a indication of the size.  Mix butter and margarine on a board with a fork.
   
Spread the butter/margarine on the dough, all the way to the ends!  Sprinkle with sugar, relatively generously.  I think it's about 1/4-1/3 cup's worth.
   
Ahhh, sprinkle action shot.  Then shake on cinnamon.  Not too much, not too little, just a nice light coating unless you're a cinnamon freak then have at it!!  Start at one end and start to roll, relatively tightly but don't fret about it,
   
Roll it and seal the edge if you feel the need.  I don't usually bother.  With the seam side down, cut the roll into 9-10 1 inch pieces, look at those lovely biscuit sugar cinnamon butter beauties!
   
Arrange them in the dish, in a single layer, feel free to squash them in to fit.  Heat the milk/sugar/vanilla in the microwave until little bubbles appear on the sides, I do 3 minutes.
   
Stir the hot milk and pour it over the biscuits, yeah, really!  It should perfectly cover them.  I had 2 that were a bit small so they floated, don't worry about it.
   
Bake it in the middle of  the oven (with a pan underneath because sometimes it boils over) and set timer for 30 minutes.  Check it, mine needed another 10 to brown up and be worthy of being taken for a coffee meeting with a girlfriend.
   
Let it rest about 5 minutes. Then DIVE IN!  The biscuit is light and tender and crisp on top.  The milk is sweet and thickened from the flour in the biscuit and is almost custardy.  

It's my most most favorite thing as a sweet treat.  Seriously, really and truly.  It's my dessert island treat.

I didn't get great pictures because, well, we were all trying desperately to get our own pieces and slather it with the thickened, sweet, milk to pour over top and I also wanted to eat mine as quickly as possible :)
  

I took it to my friend's house today and she and I devoured our hunks of it.  

The 2 teenagers loved it, the 10 year old loved it, and the 5 year old had seconds and thirds.  The 2 men working upstairs also cleaned their bowls.  I love a houseful of willing testers!

It's a solid hit and my gift to you :)  Go make it, you're going to love it! 

/enjoy