Maple creme brulee

[Nyleve]

Quite a long time ago, I made this Maple Crema from the NY Times.

http://events.nytimes.com/recipes/115...

I even posted about it here. And I'm making it for dessert again tomorrow night. I wonder if anyone else has made this recipe and, furthermore, if you've ever tried doing it with a brulee topping. I was thinking that it could be a) fantastic; or b) too much. Commets?

[RandyandJulie]

I love maple sugar and I'm making creme brulee for guests this weekend - think I'll try the maple sugar on top but skipping the syrup in the custard. How did yours turn out?

[Nyleve]

I assume you're asking me. We liked the dessert, but as I said, I realize that what I love best about creme brulee is the contrast between the crisp sugary topping and the not-so-terribly-sweet custard. The maple custard was, to my taste anyway, a bit too sweet. I enjoyed it better when I served it without the brulee topping and with just a dollop of whipped cream and some berries on the side.

[BobB]

I've never done a maple creme brulee but I have done a molded maple bavarian. Served it garnished with caramelized pecans and it was a big hit!

[karykat]

Ohhh. How did you do that? Heavy cream and gelatin?

[BobB]

Yup. Classic Joy of Cooking recipe - milk, heavy cream, gelatin, sugar, egg yolks, maple syrup, and a touch of rum.

[ChefJune]

When I want Maple Creme Brulee, I sub maple sugar for the sugar in my regular recipe, and then "brulee" with maple sugar as well. It gives a great, mapley flavor that is not too sweet.

[Nyleve]

I didn't have any maple sugar or else I would have used it. And the custard is a maple syrup reduction that's mixed with cream and egg yolk - so really sweet and really rich.

[HB_Jeff]

Nyleve,

This sounds fantastic to me. Thanks for the reference to the recipe. I plan on trying this soon and adding the brulee topping as you suggested.

I tried to find your previous post about this but was unable to find it.

Can you summarize your results?

Thanks again....

JEFF

[Nyleve]

I couldn't find it either on the site, but managed to google it up somehow. Here's my previous post:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/501835

In summary: outstanding and delicious. I've just finished baking the custards and will be serving them tomorrow. So the jury's still out about the brulee topping, but somehow it seems like it would be great. You think?

[Sooeygun]

Your recipe seems similar to a maple creme brulee recipe I have made (sorry, I don't have it here, so I can't be sure). I topped it with maple sugar rather than another kind of sugar. It was lovely.

[karykat]

Do report back on your results tomorrow. This sounds wonderful.

[Nyleve]

Report!

So I brulee'd it. Used a mixture of half white and half light brown sugar - only about 2 tsp. on each serving. Torched as usual. Personally, I found it too sweet. It was sweetness on top of sweetness. I think I'd prefer a dollop of whipped cream. Don't get me wrong - I love creme brulee. I even do a chocolate one which is fantastic. But this was just too too. The custard part was already so sweet, and then with the glazing on top - even with fresh berries on the side - it was, well, extremely sweet.

Please someone else try it and tell me what you think.

[PaperMoon]

This blog commented on the recipe being too sweet for brulee as well.

http://habeasbrulee.com/2007/02/26/ma...

I wonder if a brulee topping would work if you reduced the amount of sugar (in granulated or syrup form) in the recipe.

[Nyleve]

The thing is you need quite a concentrated amount of maple syrup to provide an intense maple flavour in the custard. So unless you were just using it as a more generic sweetener, I can't see the point. Next time I make it, I'll skip the brulee and just go with whipped cream and berries. The reason a vanilla creme brulee is so delicious is that there's a real contrast between the sugar topping and the not-so-sweet custard.