I recently purchased a kitchen blow torch to make a lemon meringue pie and have been looking for other ways to use it. The Sunday Afternoon Baking Club on Instagram had a lemon theme this week and I thought it might be a good opportunity to make lemon crème brûlées. As usual I couldn’t help but add an additional flourish to the standard recipe, and I just happened to have over ordered the fruit following last week’s Berry theme and so decided to add a blueberry surprise at the bottom i.e a layer of juicy, gooey, sweet yet sharp blueberries in the base which go perfectly against the smooth creaminess of the lemony custard in the crème brûlée.

This dessert is surprisingly easy to make and can mostly be made well in advance making it a good option for a dinner party. It looks impressive yet means not too much faffing away from guests. It’s also got built in portion control!  

Serves 3

Time: About 30 minutes plus 6 hours to chill

Ingredients

Blueberry base

• 120g / ¾ cup blueberries

• Juice of ¼ of a lemon

• 25g sugar / a generous 1/8 cup of sugar

Crème brûlée custard

• 200ml double cream

• 200ml milk

• Grated zest of 1 lemon

• 40g caster sugar

• 4 large egg yolks

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• Topping

• Approx. 6 tsp caster sugar

• A handful of fresh blueberries

You will also need suitable ramekins, a deep sided roasting tin and a kitchen blowtorch.

Method

Put the cream, milk, lemon zest and one tablespoon/ 15g of the sugar (from the 40g) in a pan and heat. Stir the mixture constantly and once you start to see bubbles forming round the edges as the mixture approaches boiling point, turn the heat off and leave the mixture to cool and the lemon flavour to infuse in to the cream.

Place the blueberries, sugar and lemon juice in a small pan and heat. The blueberries will start to release their juices and the skins will pop. Keep them bubbling away until the liquid starts to reduce and starts to form a fairly loose syrup. It will take around 5 minutes. Spoon the mix in to your ramekins so the base is covered.

Preheat the oven to 150c, fan 130c, gas 2.

In a mixing bowl (or a large jug with a spout for easier pouring), beat the egg yolks remaining sugar and vanilla extract with an electric hand whisk until the mixture is pale and airy. This will likely take a few minutes.

The cream mixture should have cooled to just warm now and so pouring the mixture through a sieve first, add it to the eggs. The lemon zest should be removed therefore, ensuring the custard is nice and smooth. If your cream mixture is still very warm, then add it to the eggs slowly to avoid overheating the eggs and scrambling them. Give everything a good stir.

Place your ramekins in to a deep sided roasting tin and boil a kettle of water.

Pour the custard mixture in to your ramekins as close to the top as you dare (the custard will not rise during cooking).

Carefully place the roasting tin in the oven, being careful not to spill the custard mixture.  Pour the boiling water in to the roasting tin so that the water reaches about ½ - ¾ of the way up the ramekin. Try not to splash the crème brûlées. Close the oven door and let them bake for about an hour to an hour and ten minutes.

By the end of the hour, they should be a little coloured on the top but not brown, the custard should be set but still wobbly.

Remove the ramekins from the hot water and set aside to cool. Once cool, cover them with cling film and place them in the fridge to finish setting for at least 6 hours or even overnight.

Once you are ready to serve, sprinkle the tops with about 2 tsp of caster sugar each and use a kitchen blowtorch to melt and caramelise it. You only want a thin layer of sugar oncem elted so don’t overdo it as you will end up with thick shards which are a little sharp in the mouth and tough on the teeth!

Keep the blowtorch moving, to avoid uneven torching of the sugar which can result in burn patches.

When you see the sugar has melted all over and is turning to a golden dark brown and is bubbling, leave them alone for about 5 minutes. The sugar will harden again and form a beautiful thin, crispy layer of caramel just perfect to tap with a spoon and break into the creamy goodness underneath right down to the juicy blueberry layer. Garnish with a few fresh blueberries and enjoy!