Maple Apple Crème Brûlée – In the Kitchen With Hearts In My Oven

I’m so excited to have one sweetheart of a girl and a truly amazing baker in my kitchen today, Lynna of Hearts In My Oven.  When I first became aware of Lynna’s gorgeous recipes I was floored to find out that she was a young college student. I was even more surprised to find out that she attended UC Irvine, the same Southern California college that our oldest had attended. Crazy coincidence!  She is completely self-taught and first started experimenting in her first little college apartment kitchen. She quickly went from zero experience to throwing together baking masterpieces like the recipe she is sharing with us today.

Her emphasis is on desserts and her site is full of lush, beautiful photos of all kinds of sweet temptations like Caramel Apple Cheesecake Blondies and Blueberry Coconut White Chocolate Cookies. I highly suggest you take a gander at her recipe index for some holiday baking inspiration. Lynna is now 23 years old and a recent college grad, as you can see from the photo below. As the mother of young people Lynna’s age, I feel mama pride in seeing all that she has accomplished in such a short time and applaud the example she is setting for other people her age to get in the kitchen!

So, with no further ado…here’s Lynna!

Hello fellow Valerie’s Kitchen readers! I’m Lynna from Hearts In My Oven. 🙂 I’ve been a reader of Valerie’s blog for awhile now and bookmarked well over 20 of her wonderful recipes. I mean, have you seen her Skillet Lasagna? Or this Skillet Herbed Chicken and Tomatoes? What about these Chicken Pesto Lasagna Rollups? (Apparently, I have a thing for skillets and lasagna…!) I grew up eating rice, so I’m constantly jealous of Valerie’s family because they get to eat all of her amazing meals. Anyway, you can imagine how happy I was when she asked me to guest post for her! Beyond excited–enough to make some fancy-pants desserts.

I thought long and hard on what I could share with you all and decided to share these maple apple crème brûlées. Why? Because crème brûlées remind me of those classic desserts you order at a restaurant, but they aren’t too complicated to make. Kind of like Valerie’s recipes to me. Classic, yet simple.

As much as I love eating crème brûlées, I could never make them at home since I did not own a blow torch or had a broiler in my oven. I finally bought one a few months ago and was so happy with my home baked crème brûlées!

Since we’re in Fall, I thought it be great to add a twist with the addition of apples and maple. And they taste just as great as your classic crème brûlées. My family loved them! My sister, who goes to UCLA, said she loved how it didn’t have the eggy taste like the ones her school makes. UCLA is known for their top-notch campus food, so this made me incredibly happy. My 15 month old cousin was gobbling these up.

If you want to make them without the apples, they will still taste excellent. But, c’mon, apples are signature to Fall. California’s weather is finally catching up to the rest of America, so let’s make some Fall inspired dessert and eat them in this sweater weather with those we love. 🙂

Follow along with Lynna and Hearts In My Oven

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Maple Apple Crème Brûlée

Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings 6 servings

Change the number in the box above to adjust serving size. Please note that size of cookware and cook time may vary.

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Ingredients

Apples:

• 1 Granny Smith apple thinly sliced and diced
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• dash of ground cinnamon

Custard:

• 2 cups whipping cream 6 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup tablespoon vanilla extract
• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar + more to torch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange ramekins in a larger baking dish.
2. Apples:In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Toss in the apples to coat. Microwave for 10-15 seconds for the apples to become slightly tender. Place apples in a single layer at the bottom of each ramekin.
3. Custard:In a saucepan, heat the cream until small bubbles appear around the edges. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, maple syrup, vanilla extract, sugar, salt, and cinnamon until just combined. While constantly whisking the egg mixture, slowly pour in the cream. Set a fine mesh sieve over a large bowl. Pour cream mixture through sieve to catch any lumps formed. Divide the custard into the ramekins evenly. (Apples will float to the top.) Place the large baking dish, with ramekins inside, in the oven. Carefully pour boiling water into the larger baking dish, halfway up the ramekins. (Do not let water get inside ramekins.)
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until custard is set. (If you shake it gently, the center will wiggle slightly.) Cover each ramekin and chill for 4-8 hours.
6. When ready to serve, let custard rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Sprinkle tops with sugar. Tilt ramekin around, to make an even layer of sugar. Pour out excess sugar if necessary. Use a blow torch to caramelize the sugar in a circular motion until sugar is browned. Serve immediately.
7. Notes:Total time does not include minimum 4 hour chilling time.
8. Only blowtorch tops when serving immediately. Otherwise, crème brûlées can be made ahead of time and refrigerated up to 5 days.
9. Recipe Courtesy of: Hearts in My Oven
10. Adapted from: BHG 2011 Fall Baking Issue