Lemon Curd Creme Brulee and Meal Plan Monday #6

A few dollops of lemon curd on the bottom of this easy lemon curd creme brulee add a lovely, bright citrus flavor that’s perfect with the custard and toasted sugar. The best part is, no torch will be needed because I’m sharing the secret to perfect crusted sugar in your broiler! 

I had so much fun making creme brulee over New Year’s Eve, that I decided I wanted to make something special for Valentine’s Day as well. Our Valentine’s Day dates usually consist of us getting dressed up to go out somewhere special, deciding we don’t want to fight with any of the crowds, and instead deciding to curl up on the couch and watch a movie or a few episodes of a tv show.  We’re super exciting right? Sometimes we go out somewhere special a few days before or a few days after, but this year I’m thinking we’ll take the time to cook a fancy-ish dinner together at home, including this lemon curd creme brulee.

If you saw my previous Cookie Butter Creme Brulee recipe where I shared my secret to perfect bruleed sugar in the broiler, you can probably guess as to the recipe for lemon curd creme brulee – yep, you just add a few dollops of lemon curd to the bottom of the ramekin before pouring the custard over the top and baking it. 

Unlike my hubby, I am not a huge fan of super duper sweet things. I am more of a savory cheese girl than a sugar fanatic, but I do make exceptions for desserts that contain dairy (ie ice cream, cheesecake, pudding, creme brulee…) and desserts that are bright and citrusy. This one has the best of both of those! 

If you want to make this dessert extra special, you can use a cookie cutter or a spoon to carefully shape the sugar into a heart to top the creme brulee like you see in the photos above. There’s nothing sweeter than a heart-shaped dessert right? 

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Lemon Curd Creme Brulee

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• Author: Stephanie Powers
• Prep Time: 30
• Cook Time: 60
• Total Time: 240
• Yield: 6 1x

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Description

A few dollops of lemon curd on the bottom of this easy lemon curd creme brulee add a lovely, bright citrus flavor that’s perfect with the custard and toasted sugar. No torch is needed either because I’m sharing my secret to perfect crusted sugar in your broiler!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 quart (2 pints) heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream)
• 2 ½ tsp. vanilla extract (Mexican vanilla if you can find it)
• ½ cup sugar
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1 cup prepared lemon curd (homemade or store-bought)
• 8 (3.5-4 oz) ramekins or other small, shallow oven-proof vessels
• 3/4 cup pre-bruleed “sugar” (See directions below)
• 2 Tablespoons water

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine cream and vanilla and stir constantly until mixture begins to bubble around the edges and almost simmer.
3. Remove pan from heat. Cover and allow to cool for about 15 minutes.
4. After the cream has set for 15 minutes, combine the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar in a medium bowl (one with a pour spout if you have it.)
5. Whisk the yolks and sugar until the mixture begins to lighten.
6. Patiently add the cream mixture very, very slowly, a little at a time, stirring continually until it’s all combined. I know it’s tempting, but if you rush this step, you will cook the eggs with the hot cream and will not have a silky custard.
7. Take the lemon curd and smear a thin layer (about 2 Tablespoons) on the bottom of each ramekin with the back of a spoon.
8. Place the ramekins with lemon curd in two 9×13 baking pans (or other similar pans).
9. Gently pour the custard mixture into each ramekin over the lemon curd, filling them about a half inch below the top lip.
10. Add water to the baking pans for a water bath (pour this inside the large pan, but outside of the ramekins), allowing the water to come no higher than halfway up the sides of the ramekin. (This may be easiest to do with the pan sitting already on the oven rack in the oven.)
11. Carefully move the pans to the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the creme has set. You can test by picking up a ramekin and wiggling it – when done, the edges of the custard will stay mostly still while the center wiggles like jello.
12. Remove from oven and water bath and allow to cool on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes before covering the tops with plastic wrap and placing them in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
13. While the creme cools, make the pre-bruleed sugar. (see below)
14. Remove the creme brulee from the fridge and equally divide the pre-bruleed sugar among each custard, making sure to cover to the edges.
15. Move your oven rack to the highest setting and turn on the broiler.
16. Place the sugared ramekins onto a cookie sheet or baking pan and place them under the broiler for 2 minutes, leaving the oven door or broiler drawer slightly open.
17. Remove from the oven and either serve immediately or refrigerate for no more than anther 30 minutes as crusted sugar will melt when left in the fridge.

For Pre-Bruleed “Sugar”

1. Line a small cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a dry pan over medium heat, add 3/4 cup white sugar and 2 Tablespoons water.
3. Stir the sugar constantly to prevent it from burning, and if it begins to blacken, lift the pan off the stove and lower the heat before returning the pan to the heat.
4. The sugar should slowly begin to melt down into a light brown liquid, much like caramel.
5. Once all the sugar in the pan has melted, pour it out onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and place in the fridge to cool.
6. Once the sugar has re-solidified, break or smash it up into smaller pieces.
7. Place sugar shards in a blender or food processor and blend until it resembles sugar once again. (You may have some larger chunks – those will be fine.)
8. Store pre-bruleed “sugar” in an airtight container until ready to top your creme brulee.

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Notes

• Makes 6-8 depending on the size of your dishes.
• Gluten-free: This is gluten-free!
• Vegetarian: This is vegetarian.
• **Your blender blade may be dulled by chopping up the sugar, so use care when attempting this.
• Making it ahead of time? The custard can always chill in the fridge for up to 2 days and then just top with the pre-bruleed “sugar” and pop under the broiler right before you serve it

Meal Plan Monday 2/9-2/15:

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This meal plan is designed to feed approximately 4 adults at each meal or two adults with lunches left over. Feel free to double or add to it as needed.  **You’ll need to open it with the free Adobe Reader App (Android or iOS) to be able to use the check boxes, so install that first if you don’t have it already.**

Monday: Stir-fried Rice with Vegetables and Cashews from Green Valley Kitchen (gluten-free with gf soy sauce, vegan) – Stir-fried rice is one of my favorite ways to pack in a bunch of extra vegetables. This recipe is super flexible with whatever I happen to have on hand in my vegetable drawer. 

Tuesday: Honey-lime Sweet Potato Black Bean Tacos from Cooking Classy (gluten-free, vegan option) – I know we had these on the meal plan a few weeks back, but hubby keeps requesting them and we can’t get enough!!

Wednesday: Apricot Orange Slow Cooker Chicken by Mom on Timeout – I know it sounds strange to orange juice, onion soup mix, and apricot jam together over chicken, but this recipe always gets rave reviews in our house! 

Thursday: BLT Wraps from Center Cut Cook (gluten-free option) – I love BLTs, so I’m excited for these delicious wraps. She has a recipe for an awesome cream cheese, mayo, dijon sauce for the wraps that I can’t seem to get enough of!

Friday: Pizza Night! with my Perfect Pizza Dough and leftover bacon and sweet potatoes. 

Saturday: Valentine’s Day!! Date Night with my Lemon Curd Creme Brulee for dessert (see recipe above).

Sunday: Y.O.Y.O. (You’re on your own.)

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? Do you have any special traditions?