HOWTO: Nutella Crème brûlée

Hey guys! Welcome to the first of however many How To's I'll be doing. Since this is the first post regarding that certain aspect of my blog, why not start it with something I'm sure everyone can do? For today, we'll be making Nutella Crème brûlée. Sounds tough? Think again. Crème brûlée itself is a fairly easy dessert to make, it's just about being patient that makes it a little challenging. To stir things up a bit, I decided to add in Nutella to see how it'll go. That's a decision I really don't regret.

Prep: 5 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes 

Ingredients! 

Six large egg yolks. 

A half-cup of white granulated sugar. 

Four cups of Heavy Whipping Cream. I used up the entire box, so that should give you an image on how much you'll need depending on how many you'll be making. Depending on the size of your ramekins, this recipe yields to 12. 

 Two tablespoons of Vanilla Extract.

 A really important aspect of this recipe to is to use Demerara Sugar, which is basically raw sugar crystals. You'll use roughly two to three tablespoons of this for the crust of your Crème brûlée. 

And most importantly, Nutella. Use six tablespoons of this wonderful product. 

Separate your egg yolks from your egg whites and place them in your mixer, turn the mixer to a low setting and begin dumping in your half cup of sugar. Be sure to space this out evenly to avoid over mixing. As you pour more sugar in, be sure to increase the speed as well. This roughly takes a good three or four minutes, so be watchful of your mixer! Afterwards, in a medium saucepan pour in your four cups of heavy whipping cream and two tablespoons of vanilla extract. Bring to a simmer, but be careful to not let it boil; we don't want our cream to curdle. 

After bubbles start to form around the edges, that's your signal when to put in six tablespoons of Nutella. Mix it thoroughly to make sure it is evenly combined and melted. 

Once the Nutella and heavy cream mixture have combined, slowly pour it into the yolk and sugar mixture. You want to temper the egg yolks, so slowly pour it in instead of completely drowning them all at once. 

Now this part is completely optional. I lined the bottom of my ramekins with toasted walnuts to add in a bit of crunch to these Crème brûlées. Roughly around one tablespoon per each ramekin. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius). Pour in your mixture into the walnut lined ramekins and cover each one with a square sized sheet of foil. Place your ramekins in a container that is taller than them, then pour in warm water about halfway the ramekins. Cover the container with foil and place it in your oven for 45 minutes. 

After 45 minutes, your HOWTO: Nutella Crème brûlées are halfway ready! They should look like little wet souffles, but don't be afraid! After getting them out of the oven, remove the foil and place them in the fridge for the next 2-3 hours in order for them to rest, and for them to set. You might be wondering, why are there only 11 in this picture and 12 in the other? Unfortunately, one didn't turn out so well so I left it out. 

Here's where the Demerara Sugar comes in handy! Regular Crème brûlée calls for white granulated sugar as the crust, but for this one I decided to try something new. Demerara sugar has a higher melting point since it is in it's rock form. When I torched it, it took longer than usual to melt and caramelize. The rocks turned from a light maple brown color to a white, then to it's melted caramel-brown color.

Garnish with sliced strawberries or whatever fruit you like Nutella with. Most importantly, enjoy yourself! 

Thanks for reading, and do comment if you enjoyed making this recipe, or if you have any suggestions for me!