Espresso Hazelnut Crème Brûlée

I don't mean to brag, but this is the best Crème Brûlée ever, so suck it France! Crème Brûlée is one of the most elegant desserts you can make. Maybe it's the simplicity of its ingredients or the crunch of the burnt sugar that gives way to the creaminess inside. Or it could be that infusing flavors into this classic dessert is like painting on a blank canvas. That, or it might just be that the French know their way around desserts, but that seems unlikely.

Quick shoutout to Oregon hazelnuts!! What what!! That is all. Carry on.

Espresso Hazelnut Crème Brûlée

Yields four 5oz. servings

• 2 cups Heavy Cream
• 6 Egg Yolks
• 1/3 cup Granulated Sugar 
• Plus extra for the topping
• 1/8 teaspoon Salt
• 1 tablespoon Instant Espresso 
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/3 cup Hazelnuts coarsely blended

1. Preheat the oven to 300° and move the baking rack to the second lowest. 
2. Boil about 7 cups of water. 
3. Heat 1 cup of the cream, sugar, salt, and instant espresso in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Stir constantly to avoid burning. You don't want to burn the cream, that comes later.
4. In a mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks with the vanilla extract until the texture becomes consistent.  
5. Pour the cream mixture into the yolks. Be sure to do this slowly and temper the egg yolks to avoid coagulating the proteins in the yolks. 
6. Line a deep baking dish with a dish towel. Place the empty ramekins in the dish, make sure they're not touching.  
7. Strain the mixture with a fine mesh strainer and pour into the ramekins. Place into the oven. Pour the boiling water into the large dish. Try to avoid getting water into the desserts. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool. Place in fridge for at least 2 hours to set.
9. Once you're ready to serve, evenly pour about a tablespoon of sugar on each one. Using a torch, burn the sugar just until it's bubbly. Sprinkle the hazelnuts onto the bubbling sugar. Enjoy with a spoon!  

before burning

getting burnt

Yes, Katy Weaver took all these wonderful photos!

finished product!

Fig Dessert Pizza and Maple Coffee

fig dessert pizza

Here at Cooking with B.S. Corp. we like to pride ourselves on knowing what recipes our followers want. You've spoken up and we've listened to your pleas for more fig recipes. I would also like to point out this is the No. 1 fig based blog outside of the Middle East and would like to use this title to help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but first coffee.

maple whipped cream coffee

Autumn came ushering in this year like a car swerving off the highway due to the first autumn rains. Instead of going outside and enjoying the crisp fall air, why not stay in drinking a hot cup of coffee with some maple whipped cream to top it off? And while you're enjoying your ideal fall drink, read through some of your favorite Cooking with B.S. posts and click on an ad or three. 

maple coffee

I fully endorse coffee with dessert and from what I've seen it's only my grandparents and their friends that partake in this post-dinner ritual. I wish more people my age would join in, but wishful thinking never solved anything except turning Pinocchio into a real boy.

figs

Kona coffee

maple whipped cream

Maple Whipped Cream Coffee

• 1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 tablespoon Maple Syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1. Add everything to a mixing bowl and whisk until it's all whippy. 
2. Add the delicious whipped cream to a cup of coffee.
3. Petition Starbucks to buy this recipe from me to replace the Pumpkin Spiced Latte as "The Fall Coffee Drink".

pizza dough

Fig and Goat Cheese Dessert Pizza

• 2 Figs quartered
• 3 oz. Goat Cheese crumbled
• 1 tablespoon Honey
• 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
• Pizza dough

1. Once again I used America's Test Kitchen's pizza dough recipe for this one. You can buy their new book, Cooking School Cookbook here!
2. Preheat the oven to 475°
3. Drizzle the honey over the stretched out pizza dough. Crumble on the goat cheese. Add the figs and sprinkle the cinnamon over the pizza.
4. Bake on a pizza baking stone for about 10 minutes or until the edges are crispy.
5. NOTE: the figs will make this pizza a little juicy so let the sugars cool and solidify before cutting into the dessert pizza.

dessert pizza

Things can change at a moment's notice; the weather, the season, the ripeness of figs, but instead of worrying about what's coming next, take time out of your busy schedule to enjoy something sweet and the post-dinner buzz of the world's favorite bean.  Enjoy!

All photos by THE

Katy Weaver

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This whipped cream looks like a grumpy old man.

maple whipped cream coffee