Serves 6
Ingredients
1 ¾ cups whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
5 eggs
¼ cup pumpkin purée (canned, or made from roasting and puréeing)
½ cup sugar, plus six teaspons for sugar crust
Directions
With the oven rack in the center, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, milk and salt and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and add vanilla, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg.
In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, pumpkin, and ½ cup sugar until blended. Gently add the cream mixture into the egg mixture. Pour into ramekins, and set ramekins into a baking dish. Make a hot-water bath by pouring hot water into the baking dish, (taking care to not get any water into the ramekins) until the water comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
Bake until the crème brulées are set in the center, about 45 minutes. They will be jiggly but not liquid. Set on a rack and cool. Remove the water from the baking dish and refrigerate. Chill until cold, for 2 hours or overnight.
SUGAR CRUST
Remove the brûlées from the refrigerator and gently remove any moisture from the top with a paper towel. Put an spoonful of sugar in each ramekin and shake it from side to side to evenly distribute the layer of sugar. Tap out any excess sugar. The layer should be thin enough that you can almost see the custard beneath it.
Move the oven rack to the highest setting and put the oven on broil. Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet with an inverted pie plate underneath, getting them close to the broiler. Broil for 5-10 minutes, until the sugar has created a brown and bubbling crust. Remove from the oven and re-refrigerate if you prefer to serve them cold, or serve as is, which will be slightly warm.
You can also uses a chef’s torch to caramelize the top of the dessert.
