I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but AllEarsNet has an extensive collection of recipes from many of the WDW restaurants – you can find the list HERE.

I don’t care much for cooking but I love to bake, and I love desserts (especially chocolate) so I’ve tried a few of these. I thought I would share some of my experiences – things I’ve learned, and what works and doesn’t work, and whether or not I think it’s worth the effort.

I’m starting with the Milk Chocolate Creme Brulee from Fulton’s, since I mentioned that in a recent blog entry.

Here’s the recipe:

Milk Chocolate Creme Brulee
Fulton’s Crab House
Downtown Disney

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
5 egg yolks, large
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
3 oz. milk chocolate
2 TB granulated sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

2. Bring heavy cream and 1/4 cup of sugar to a boil in a saucepan.

3. Whisk together egg yolks, vanilla, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar.

4. Add this to the heavy cream with the milk chocolate, making sure the chocolate is completely melted.

5. Ladle custard into 6 oz. cups and place cups in large baking pan.

6. Add enough water to the baking pan to come halfway up the sides of the cups. Bake until set, approximately 45 minutes.

7. Remove custards from water and cool. Refrigerate until well chilled.

8. Preheat broiler. Sprinkle 1/2 TB of sugar over each custard.

9. Broil until sugar caramelizes, approximately two minutes.

Serve immediately.

This is actually pretty easy to make, but it looks and tastes really awesome. I’ve made a few modifications, though. 🙂

I use dark chocolate (Ghirardelli 60% chocolate chips, or other bittersweet chocolate) instead of milk chocolate.

The recipe doesn’t say this, but once you bring the cream to a boil, REMOVE IT FROM THE HEAT. On a gas stove simply turn off the burner, but on an electric stove you’ll need to move it to a different burner or a hot pad.

I add the chocolate to the cream (if you’re using a chocolate bar, chop it into 1/4″ pieces first) and stir to let it melt before adding the egg yolk mixture. (You don’t want the cream mixture to be too hot when you add the eggs or it’ll start cooking the eggs and it can get lumpy.) I find a wire whisk works well for getting everything to combine together, but if you use a wire whisk then you need to make sure not to use a non-stick sauce pan.

For the baking cups I’ve used ceramic mini-souffle dishes as well as small pyrex baking dishes – either one works fine, though the mini-souffle dishes look a little fancier. I can fit 6 of them in a metal 9×13 pan and then pour in the water. It’s awkward carrying a pan half-filled with water, so I put the pan in the oven and pull the oven rack partway out and THEN pour in the water.

I found that baking at 275 degrees really *doesn’t* work – or if it does, it takes a LOT longer than 45 minutes! I bake it at 325 for 30-35 minutes. I do have to be really careful when taking it out of the oven to avoid sloshing hot water around (water drops mar the nice top of the creme brulee!). I carefully use a pair of metal tongs to pull the custard cups out of the water and then set them on individual serving plates.

We ignore steps 7-9, because rather than chilling it and then caramelizing the sugar on top, we eat it right out of the oven! It’s so good that it doesn’t need the caramelized sugar, but I serve it with whipped cream and usually some berries on the side.

Ok, now I’m starving…there must be some chocolate around here somewhere!

See you in the kitchen…

Laura

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