For the Custard:
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup whole milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin purée
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

For the Caramel:
1/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons water
¼ teaspoon lemon juice

For the Crème brûlée top:
4 tablespoons sugar

Instructions:

To make the caramel: bring the sugar, water, and lemon juice to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until the syrup turns a light caramel color. Pour the caramel into ramekins, and tilt so that it covers the bottoms and sides. Let cool.

Note: If you want to serve the caramel separately as hard and brittle, pour it onto wax paper or a silicone-lined baking sheet and let it cool. It will harden. Break apart like you would for peanut brittle. Serve alongside the custard.

To get ready: Preheat the oven to 300˚F.

To make the custard: In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream, milk, and vanilla to a boil. Meanwhile, in a heatproof bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar until blended. Stir in the pumpkin purée, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisking constantly, pour the hot milk into the egg mixture; let rest for a few minutes, then strain. Pour the custard into the caramel-lined ramekins.

Place the ramekins in a baking dish. Add boiling water to come about two-thirds up the sides of the ramekin. Transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until a knife inserted into the center of the custard comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Let cool. Chill for 2-3 hours.

To serve as crème brûlée: sprinkle sugar evenly over top of cooked, cooled custards. Using a torch, move the flame continuously over the surface of the ramekins until the sugar melts and becomes golden brown and bubbly.

To serve as crème caramel: run the tip of a knife around the edge of the custard to loosen it. Invert a serving platter over the ramekin and quickly turn it over again. Carefully remove the ramekin.

Happy Fall!

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Recipe: Pumpkin Muffins

You can find the recipe for Pumpkin Muffins in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by Dorie Greenspan or here. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! Thanks to Kelly from Sounding My Barbaric Gulp who chose the recipe for this week. Tasting Notes I loved these pumpkin muffins. They were best fresh from the oven, but I've been enjoying several since then too. 

Makes: 8 individual or 1 9-inch tart

For the Crust:
1 ¼ cups flour
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 egg yolk
7 ounces unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces

For the Filling:
15 ounces pure pumpkin
1 ¼ cup heavy cream
1/8 cup coconut milk
1 cinnamon stick
5 whole cloves
1-inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1 chai teabag
¾ cup maple sugar (or 1 tablespoon maple syrup plus 11 tablespoons sugar)
¼ teaspoon salt
3 eggs

Instructions:

For the crust: Mound the flour, sugar, salt, and ginger on the counter. Make a well and pour the milk and egg yolk in. Start to mix this up with your fingers. Start adding the butter and work it together until it forms a ball. Gather it into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill for 4 hours or up to 2 days before rolling and baking.

Note that this dough is tricky to roll out since there's so much butter in it, but it is so tender and crispy that it's worth the extra effort.

Roll out dough between two sheets of wax paper until 1/8-inch thick. Transfer dough to pie dish. Crimp dough edge decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes before baking.

Preheat oven to 425˚F. Line crust with foil. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until sides are set, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and weights. Bake until golden brown. Place aluminum foil collar around edge of crust if it browns too quickly, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.

For the filling: Preheat oven to 325˚F. Heat the heavy cream, coconut milk, cinnamon stick, cloves, ginger, and chai teabag until it comes to a boil. Remove from the heat, and stir in the sugar and salt. Let this mixture steep for 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs. Strain the cream mixture into a bowl. Slowly whisk in the eggs, tempering them so that the eggs don't curdle. Pour mixture into cooled crust. Bake until filling is set and knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour for a 9-inch tart and 30 minutes for individual tarts. Cool to room temperature.

Sugar High Fridays

This is my submission to Sugar High Fridays, a dessert-focused food-blogging event created by Jennifer from The Domestic Goddess. This month's event is hosted by Anita from Dessert First Girl and the theme is spice.

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