S'mores Creme Brulee

April 2, 2018 by Nicole Collins

CHOCOLATE!

First and foremost, can we please give a HUGE “welcome back!” to chocolate for a sec?

It’s nice to see you old friend. I’ve missed you.

I know the end of Lent season was yesterday, (Happy Easter by the way!). But since Lent started on Valentine’s Day, I cheated a little and started my Lenten sacrifice a day late. Therefore, I added an extra day on the end. Though, yes I’m aware, that’s not how that works.

I do have a small confession to make. I was not chocolate free for 6 weeks.

I had a little fumble on St. Patrick’s Day. I was just snacking away at the second party I attended, and there was this dessert dip with mini chocolate chips and chocolate graham crackers on the table. I had probably three mini grahams and dip…not even thinking about the fact that it was chocolate. In fact, it didn’t dawn on me til about a half hour later that the dip was chocolate and I wasn’t supposed to have it. But, when the lightbulb went off, I felt AWFUL!

It was a total accident. And, it’s the only slip up I had. But, I still felt really terrible. I even thought about tagging on an extra day of no chocolate. Thank goodness our God is a forgiving one.

Today, we’re inviting chocolate back in to our lives in a SUPER fun way! We’re making S’mores Crème Brulee!

Before we talk about today’s dessert, I have to discuss something with you really quickly. Chocolate may be back in. But, meat is out!

Here’s the deal…for the month of April, I’m going to be following a pescatarian diet. That means, no meat! But, dairy, eggs, and seafood is ok. And, I’m taking you with me! This is what I really wanted to do for Lent this year, but I didn’t plan far enough ahead to be able to really commit to that challenge. So, April is the lucky month. And, I’ve already got some really yummy recipes in store for you!

But for now, let’s talk S’mores Crème Brulee.

I got the idea for this by watching one of those Buzzfeed videos on facebook. They were making crème brulee out of icecream. So, I took their idea and stepped it up a notch.

We start with a graham cracker crust on the bottom. We’re just using the basic graham/butter/sugar mix, and pressing it in to the bottom of our ramekins. The crust doesn’t keep its crusty texture, but it kind of melts in to the chocolate custard. It’s a pretty cool consistency if you ask me. Mmm…

The chocolate custard is super simple…chocolate icecream and egg yolks. Melt your favorite brand of chocolate icecream, whisk in some egg yolks, and pour it over the crust in your ramekins. Bake it in a water bath, and get ready for the finishing touch.

Crème brulee is nothing without the sensation of cracking that sugar shell on top. But, we’re going to step it up one more little notch by adding mini marshmallows on top of our sugar after we torch it. I like my marshmallows burnt! But, you can control that based on how you hit them with the torch flame.

Some people like to burn their sugar by popping it under the broiler, but I don’t like it that way. It heats your custard and even risks overcooking it. A little kitchen torch is a minimal expense, so I totally recommend investing in one. Plus, it’s so fun! You could totally use the broiler if you prefer that option. But, this is the torch I have.

Side note…before you call me out on using marshmallows but wanting to follow the pescatarian diet, I 100% understand that marshmallows have gelatin in them which is made from animal fat. I’m not eating animal flesh, which makes this loophole ok for me. I probably won’t be perfect trying to follow this diet. But, if you don’t feel good about it, there are vegan marshmallows out there.

Alright! We’ve covered a lot of topics today! I think we’ve all earned ourselves a S’mores Crème Brulee (or 3)!

Stay tuned to see how I do on my pescatarian journey; and let’s eat!

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S'mores Creme Brulee

Serves: 4 Print

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chocolate ice cream

• 4 egg yolks

• 4 sheets (4 crackers per sheet) honey graham crackers

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

• ½ tbsp + 2 tbsp sugar, divided

• 28 mini marshmallows

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Add ice cream to a glass measuring cup. Microwave for 1 ½ – 2 mins until ice cream is completely melted. If ice cream is still cool to the touch, add egg yolks to the cup. If the melted ice cream is warm, allow it to sit for 5 mins before adding the egg yolks. Whisk the yolks and the ice cream together until fully combined.

2. Place graham crackers in a freezer bag. Crush crackers with a rolling pin, frying pan, or hammer until you have crumbs. Alternately, you can run the graham crackers through the food processor until the crackers reach a crumb texture. Mix crumbs with melted butter and ½ tbsp sugar until the crumbs are wet. Divide crumbs evenly between 4 ramekins. Press the crumbs down with your fingers to form a crust in the bottom of each ramekin.

3. Place ramekins in a high sided pan. Pour ice cream mixture in to each ramekin, dividing evenly. Pour very hot water in to the pan until it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekin, being careful not to get any water in the ramekins. Carefully transfer the pan to the oven, and bake for 40 mins. The center will still be a little jiggly. Remove the ramekins from the water bath, and let them cool to room temperature. Once cooled, cover each ramekin in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or up to 3 days.

4. When ready to serve, remove custard from the fridge. Sprinkle ½ tbsp sugar evenly over the top of each custard. Use a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar, making sure to move the flame back and forth (not staying in one spot for very long) until the sugar starts to bubble and darken. Place 7 mini marshmallows in the center of the crème brulee on top of the caramelized sugar. Use the kitchen torch to roast the marshmallows to your desired doneness. Serve immediately.

Recipe notes:

*If you're impatient like me and can't wait 4 hours for the custard to cool, you can put the ramekins in the freezer for about 20 minutes, and then move them to the fridge for about 15 minutes before caramelizing the sugar.

*Make sure you don't caramelize the sugar and marshmallows until you're ready to serve. The sugar will actually dissolve into the custard if you do it too soon.

*Some people like to brulee the sugar by popping it under the broiler, but I don't like this method because it warms the custard (weird!). Kitchen torches are pretty inexpensive. This is the one I use.

*The custard recipe is adapted from Tasty.

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