Pumpkin Creme Brulee is hands down my favorite fall dessert ever. It used to be apple pies, but once I tasted the goodness of a pumpkin creme brulee I can’t go back. This has become one of the staple desserts every year at our thanksgiving feast back home, so I felt that it’s only right for me to share this recipe with you all. It took me a while to figure out the perfect pumpkin creme brulee recipe and give it the best consistency, but I finally got it! I promise, you can’t go wrong with it.
What makes a crème brulee thick in consistency?
This is one of the difficult parts that took me several years to figure out this pumpkin creme brulee recipe. You have to get the perfect milk to egg yolk ratio. So, after several attempts, I finally got it! The key is to use heavy cream. A lot of recipes call for whole milk and heavy cream, but I cut out the whole milk and just used heavy cream. I found that the perfect ratio is two cups of heavy cream to six egg yolks. This gives it the nice and creamy texture of a crème brulee.
How do I cook the Pumpkin Creme Brulee?
Cooking the crème brulees was another hurdle I had to get over. While doing my research, everyone tells you too cook the crème brulees in a water bath, but no one tells you that the key to the water bath is that it has to be BOILING water. Not warm, timid, or hot water. It has to be BOILING! I would spend hours watching my crème brulees in the oven wondering why they wouldn’t cook and it is because the water was always cold, meaning that the water had to heat up before the pumpkin creme brulees even started cooking!
Don’t forget to let me know what you think in the comments below and rate this recipe!
Ingredients
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- 6 Egg yolk
- ⅔ cup Sugar
- ½ cup Pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp Pumpkin spice
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 325F.
- In a big pot, bring about 6 cups of water to a boil. (You may not use all of this, but it is to take into account evaporation, and how big of the dish you are using).
- In a medium saucepan, add the 2 cups of heavy cream. Bring to a soft boil over medium heat. To know when it is a soft boil, keep an eye out for the bubbles on the rim of the pot. Once you notice that bubbles are coming out on the rim, you are at a soft boil.
- While your heavy cream is coming to a boil, separate 6 egg yolks from the egg whites. (save the egg whites for scrambled eggs for breakfast!) Place the egg yolks in a separate bowl, and add the sugar and mix.
- Once your heavy cream is at a soft boil, slowly add it to the egg and sugar mixture. Do not add it all at once because you can cook the eggs and create scrambled eggs! You want to slowly bring up the egg temperature.
- Once the heavy cream is completely added and incorporated, add the pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice. Mix to combine.
- Place the mixture in six separate ramekins and place the ramekins in a baking dish.
- Fill the baking dish with boiling water, so that the water is halfway up the ramekins. Carefully place the baking dish in the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes. To know when they are done, give the ramekins a slight jiggle. The crème brulees should jiggle slightly, they will finish setting in the fridge
- Once the crème brulees are done, remove them from the water bath and allow them to cool to almost room temperature. After, cover them with plastic wrap and place them in the fridge.
- Prior to eating the pumpkin creme brulee, sprinkle sugar on the top (about a tablespoon) and using a kitchen torch, melt the sugar so that it becomes caramelized. If you don’t have a kitchen torch, place them in the broiler for about 2-3 minutes, until the sugar is caramelized and brown. Serve and enjoy!
Easy to make and delicious!! Loved it
Thanks for the tip to ditch the whole milk and use only heavy cream. Worked like a charm! Sooo delicious!
[…] favorite dessert for this holiday along with my Pumpkin Creme Brulee (which the recipe can be found here.) Every year my uncle begs me to make an apple pie for Thanksgiving but this year I am switching it […]