Eye of Butterfly

Just had to post this recipe while I'm thinking about it. My family raved about it and have been asking for me to make it again for awhile now. This time I omitted the Irish Cream cuz I don't have any on hand and am not going out just for that. It's a simple, easy to make recipe and takes little time! You've got to try it! It makes six small ramekins. There's five of us and my boys were fighting over the last one! LoL Sorry, I do not remember where I got this recipe.

Irish Cream Crème Brûlée

* 2 cups heavy cream
* 1/3 cup white sugar
* 6 egg yolks
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 3 tablespoons Irish cream liqueur
* superfine sugar as needed

Preheat oven to 300°. Place 6 ramekins on a towel set in a roasting pan at least 3 inches deep.

Stir together cream and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, and cook until very hot, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Whisk together egg yolks, vanilla, and Irish cream until combined. Slowly the hot cream 2 tablespoons at a time, whisking it in until incorporated. Once you have incorporated 1/3 of the cream, you can stir in the remaining hot cream without fear of the mixture curdling.

Pour custard into the ramekins, then fill roasting pan with boiling hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in preheated oven until set, 50 to 60 minutes.

Once the custard has set, place ramekins on a wire rack, and allow cooling to room temperature, about 1 hour. Cover, and refrigerate until cold, about 4 hours. Custards may remain refrigerated until ready to serve. When it's done, it looks like this:

My daughter prefers to eat it at this stags. She doesn't like the caramelized sugar on top. For the rest of us, I sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of superfine sugar onto each. Gently shake the custards so the sugar coats the entire top surface, then tip the custards to a 45 degree angle and shake off excess sugar.

Now you're suppose to use a small hand torch, melt the sugar by making short passes over top of the custards with the flame not quite touching. If you're like me, you're too cheap to buy one of those torches for about $20.00 so I used my broiler. Worked great! Just melt the sugar until it turns deep brown. Once the sugar has melted and turned to caramel, the cold custard underneath will harden the sugar into a crispy crust. Serve immediately. This is what that yummy goodness looks like completely done:

mmmmmmm...life's good.