SHF: Matcha Green Tea Creme Brulee
This month we’re really proud to participate in Sugar High Friday for the first time! If you’re unfamiliar with the idea, here’s a summary in the words of its founder, Domestic Goddess:
It’s your best excuse to make something sweet and different, at least once a month. And to do it with tons of other people from around the world. It occurs during the last week of every month, entries due on the Monday and the round-up posted on the Friday (the Sugar High Friday that is!). The rules and regulations – really, anything goes! Just make your favourite dessert that revolves around or highlights the specified ingredient, which is always something different every month.
This month’s Sugar High Friday theme was selected by La Petite Boulangette. Her delicious category of choice? Asian Sweet Invasion! Feeling a little bit like I was on Iron Chef, I decided to do a very classic dessert with an asian inspiration. My start? A simple, creamy crème brulée. To that, I added Japanese matcha green tea powder. You can find it easily in asian markets and I believe I’ve even seen it in the grocery store. I made this recipe twice to get the amount of green tea flavor just right. The finished dessert had a very mild, yet still detectable green tea flavor, and luckily the same creamy consistency as the classic dessert.
It’s a sophisticated-sounding dessert that’s very easy to make. The best plan of action is to make it the day before. That way, the custard has ample time to chill all the way through and your caramelized top will be crisp. Also, in this recipe the crunchy sugar topping is caramelized in the broiler. If you have a mini-torch, that’ll work better. However, mine was having some problems (I think it was low on gas), so I used the broiler and it worked fine.
Japanese Matcha Green Tea Crème Brulée
(as adapted from the Bon Appétit June 2002 recipe)
Yield: Serves 8
6 large egg yolks
7 tbs. sugar
2 tbs. matcha green tea powder
2 1/4 cups whipping cream
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 tbs. sugar for topping
Preheat oven to 325°F. Whisk yolks and 7 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl until thick and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Add green tea powder and whisk until incorporated. Bring cream to simmer in heavy small saucepan. Gradually whisk hot cream into yolk mixture. Whisk in vanilla; divide custard among eight 3/4-cup custard cups. Arrange cups in 13x9x2-inch metal pan. Pour enough hot water into pan to come halfway up sides of cups. Bake custards until gently set in center, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cups from water and refrigerate uncovered until cold, at least 3 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and keep chilled.)
Preheat broiler. Place custards on baking sheet. Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar onto each. Broil until sugar starts to bubble and color, turning sheet often to prevent burning, about 2 minutes. Chill until topping is hard and brittle, at least 1 hour and up to 6 hours.
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That looks really tasty!
that looks delicious! i’m on a real green tea kick (note: tazo just came out with green ginger i believe? have you tried this? one of my friends was raving about it)
and you just put them under the broiler? no torch? interesting….
I’m a big fan of Asian Mint’s green tea desserts, and they always make me wonder what other sweets can be made with green tea. This one sounds great (and it’s possibly something I could actually make)! Thanks!
[...] On Monday, we posted our contribution to the “Asian Sweet Invasion” themed event: Japanese Matcha Green Tea Crème Brulée. Today, in the Sugar High Friday Roundup, we got take a look at the rest of the [...]
thank you for the comments!
shannon, i’m a big fan of Asian Mint’s desserts too! that is definitely a place we need to review.
jen, yes… no torch. i tried to use it, but it kept flickering out. the broiler wasn’t too bad though. as you can see from the pics, there was a little burning, but it was pretty minimal
Well done for your first SHF. I loooove anything matcha and I received a nifty little blowtorch for my birthday, so I will definitely give this a try.
green tea has lots of anti-oxidant that is really needed by our body to combat free radicals