Passion Fruit and Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée

Updated 11:47 PM EST, Tue, Jul 28, 2009

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Serves Four

1 ¾ cups heavy cream
½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped from the pod
4 egg yolks
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp. salt
3 tbsp. passion fruit juice or purée
4 tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 325 ° Fahrenheit.

Bring a quart of water to a boil, reserve hot.

Heat the heavy cream with the vanilla bean until simmering, turn off and let the flavor of the vanilla bean infuse into the cream for 10 minutes.

In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar and salt. Gradually ladle in the hot cream into the egg mixture while whisking to prevent the egg yolks from curdling. Stir in the passion fruit juice. Strain the egg mixture into a bowl. Skim off any foam from the top of the custard mixture.

Divide the egg mixture among four six oz. custard cups, ramekins or crème brûlée dishes. Place the cups carefully in a baking dish.

Ladle the hot water into the baking dish, being careful not to get hot water into the custard cups.

Add enough hot water so the level comes halfway up the height of the custard cups. Carefully put the baking dish and custards into the preheated oven.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the custard is gently set. The custard should evenly wiggle when gently set. Remove from the hot water and chill the custard cups fully in the refrigerator.

To finish, evenly spread 1 tbsp. of the second measure of sugar on top of each custard. Brown the sugar with a torch or under the broiler until caramelized and bubbly. Let cool briefly to harden the sugar crust.

Serve with fresh fruit and garnish with a crisp cookie. Enjoy!