Maple and Bacon Creme Brulee Recipe
Photo by Shannon O'Hara

Houston Pastry chef Rebecca Masson may be a dessert traditionalist, but she can be swayed. “I have had many ‘arguments’ on why crème brûlée shouldn’t be messed with. It’s perfect the way it is. That said, sometimes a little variation brings new light to a classic.” As owner of Fluff Bake Bar in Houston, Texas, Masson has plenty of room to experiment on her own, but her spin on crème brûlée comes from a past mentor. “I made this dish while working at Catalan,” she says. “Chris Shepherd, then the chef there, was doing a lot with pigs at the time. The dish was a perfect sweet and salty finish to the meal.”

recipe heading-plus-icon

yields

4 servings

    ingredients
  • 2 quarts heavy cream
  • 4 small eggs
  • 12 large egg yolks
  • 2¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons grade A maple syrup, divided
  • ½ cup toasted walnuts
  • ½ cup lardons
  • Sugar in the raw for brûlée
steps
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put heavy cream into saucepan and scald cream over medium-high heat. Remove from heat.
  2. Whisk together eggs, yolks, and 2¼ cups maple syrup until combined. Slowly, start pouring hot cream into egg mixture, continuing to whisk until smooth and homogenous. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
  3. Pour custard into 4 4-ounce ramekins, leaving about ⅛ inch at top. Place filled ramekins into baking dish and add enough hot water to submerge ramekins halfway. Cover pan in foil and carefully place in oven. Bake about 40 minutes or until mostly set (when done, custard should shake like jello).
  4. Remove from oven and remove foil. Let cool, then remove from water bath. Place in refrigerator for about 4 hours.
  5. Right before serving, place 1 cup mixture of toasted walnuts and lardons in a frying pan with 2 tablespoons maple syrup. Cook 3–4 minutes over medium heat, just until syrup begins to boil and coats nuts. Remove from heat.
  6. Apply thin, even layer of granulated sugar in the raw to surface of each custard. Add walnuts and lardons evenly to each. Using a blowtorch, melt sugar until it’s light brown and has formed a crisp top. Rest crème brûlée until surface has cooled, about 5 minutes.

 

 

 

 

  • from Rebecca Mason, Owner of Fluff Bake Bar, Houston, Texas

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