Mandarin Crème Brûlée Recipe
For our Mandarin Creme Brulee recipe, use any variety of juicy tangerine, mandarins or even orange juice that you have available. We love the flavor profile the best with tangerines/mandarins but they all are tasty!
Mandarin Creme Brulee Recipe
In the garden, here at the WORC household, spring is in full stride. The strawberries are turning from white to red, the wisteria is in bloom, and the various stone fruits have been sending out their flowers, begging for the little pollinators to come visit. But above all, the citrus is going f@#$ing crazy. There is new growth everywhere, flowers are popping up aplenty (we saw our first yuzu flower yesterday!!!) and the fruit is plumping up and filling with delicious, succulent sugars. At this time of year there is one citrus which has ripened ahead of all the rest. Our beautiful fremont tangerine.
Fremont Mandarin Tree
Only two years ago, our tangerine was a little “charlie brown” citrus trees. Then at the beginning of last year, the roots hit a sweet spot and it EXPLODED! Now the tangerine is our pride and joy, and to make anything with it’s fruit is pure pleasure (thankfully it puts out more than we can eat straight up.)
What’s the difference between a mandarin vs tangerine?
You may be asking yourself, “What’s the difference between a mandarin and a tangerine?” We certainly did, and here is a brief synopsis of what we found. Nothing. They are one and the same. Mandarin in the general term for this type of citrus. Mandarins most likely originated in China. As they made their way around the world, they took on different names and they developed subtle variations. Those going through Tangier-Morocco took on the name tangerine. In Europe, the clementine became it’s own variation. Asian varieties more or less kept mandarin. And over the centuries, more and more subtle variations ensued. Today, the plant varieties found in nurseries will offer many of the variations, demonstrating how global our world has become. Although in marketing many times the names will be misused or used interchangeably.
our tangerine/mandarin tree
So what is the proper naming? Mandarin is the most general term to refer to them all. The rest is variation details. Just like a cognac is a type of brandy, a tangerine or a clementine are types of mandarins. But that isn’t to say there aren’t excellent specific types of mandarins. Those varieties that developed in Asia will still often carry the mandrin moniker in the common name. Make sense? If not, just ask Tangerine Man, who says that they are “two words for the same thing, technically Citrus reticulata Blanco.”
-Todd
This recipe adapted from Bo Friberg’s The Professional Pastry Chef book creme brulee recipe. Through Mr. Friberg’s books we’ve learned (among a million other things) of a beautiful little twist that will make your creme brulee a notch better than most others out there… Brown sugar for the topping. “But brown sugar is too moist!” you protest. Not with Bo’s savvy technique. Dry out the sugar in the oven, the presto, perfect creme brulee topping. In addition, this creme brulee recipe, with our little additions, is the best we’ve ever had. Smooth and silky with the gentle citrus notes to brighten up the custard. Our summertime variation of creme brulee is a lime creme brulee which has an incredibly brilliant flavor. However for winter and spring, our mandarins are king and so to keep with the seasons, give us a little variation, and to find one more way to enjoy our garden’s bounty, we have created this, our Mandarin Creme Brulee.
Tangerine Creme Brûlée
Ingredients
Creme Brûlée Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup (110g) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) fresh tangerine juice
- 2 1/2 cups (600ml) heavy cream
- zest from 6 full-sized tangerines
- 1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
- 1 teaspoon (5g) vanilla extract
Topping
- 1/2 cup (110g) light brown sugar
Instructions
- Mix (do not whip) the egg yolks, eggs, tangerine juice, and brown sugar until everything is nicely combined. Put cream into a saucepan, add tangerine zest, then over medium heat, warm cream to scalding point (stirring occasionally).
- Gradually pour the egg mixture into cream, stirring constantly. Add salt and vanilla. Strain custard (it will still be liquidy) into a container that is easy to pour out of, using a fine mesh strainer.
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Put ceramic ramekins (ideally should be between 3 1/2"-4 1/2" in diameter) into a roasting pan or other suitable dish (has to be taller than ramekins.) Add hot water until it reaches about 3/4 the way up the ramekins. Divide the custard between your ramekins filling about 3/4" deep.
- Bake custards for @ 25 minutes, or until they are set. Do not overcook or it will mess up the texture. Remove custards from the water bath and allow to cool for about 20 minutes. Then refrigerate them until they are thoroughly chilled. The custards will keep for 4-5 days, just keep them well covered to keep other fridge smells from permeating them.
- Dry the Brown Sugar for the Topping: Preheat oven to 300°F. Line a sheet pan with baking paper, spread out brown sugar into an even, thin layer. Put in oven for a until it starts to dry out (@3-5 min.). Remove from oven, allow to cool, then roll with a rolling pin to break up into granules again. Reserve until you are ready to serve the creme brulees.
- Serving time! Sprinkle an even layer of the dried brown sugar on top of the custards. Torch it with quick swirling motions.
Thanks for the comments everyone!
peabody – You little pyro girl! Love your style!
Lisa – Truly a girl after my own heart. Desserts first! You never know when you are going to kick the bucket!
Julia – I’ve thought about it, but the torch would have to live in garage, no cabinet space high enough in the kitchen w/o serious rearranging. How cool you studied under Friberg! Our Prof Pastry Chef book is in absolute tatters I’ve used it so much. He’s our pastry idol!
Phoo-D – Time to light it up! We love our citrus, too. They makes us happy to be home.
Abigail – Yeah, probably not a good tool for your spot. One wayward torch and the whole block could be up in flames. Thanks for the compliments. Here’s a napkin.
Amy – Just pick up ceramic ramekins (don’t have to be specific creme brulee size) when you find ’em cheap. We love Marshals down here for good close-out kitchen stuff.
Happy Cook – The flames are fun, aren’t they. Livens up the kitchen when you light up!
Evil Chef Mom – D. found those crates recently. Aren’t they cool?!
Jesse – We feel so lucky to have all of our trees! They are everything you said and more!
toontz – That’s part of why we grow whatever we can. All the tasty stuff is damn expensive! At least you had sunshine to wake up to. I loved those cold, clear mornings growing up.
Kate – That’s exactly how we started our “garden.” We had an apartment patio & had a meyer lemon and a mexican lime tree. A yuzu would be dangerous in tight quarters, them puppies got nasty thorns. Thanks on the compliments. We are looking for a touch of a “burnt” flavor for our creme brulee toppings. Just a hair more than a regular caramel taste. After all “creme brulee” means burnt cream. When torching we tend to quickly work areas over in steps. Swirl a spot just to bubble a little, move to the next, then the next, then returning back to the first. Drying the brown sugar definitely helps the caramelization process from burning to quick. Plus the brown sugar topping isn’t as “glassy” of a texture. There is a little more give while still giving that nice snap to the top. Hope that makes sense in describing what we look for in our creme brulees.
Simone – Welcome! Thank you so much. Glad you stopped by.
Heather – Aren’t mandarins tasty. Always one of my favorite fruits. Especially now that we are growing them and we can taste the fully tree ripened.
The Daily Colander – Very close. The pie is related, but the limes aren’t primetime yet.
Marie – We always used to have fruit envy too, until we started growing our own. Now we are just the lucky ones who are very grateful for what we have.
Thanks again everyone for stopping by and saying “Hi.” -Todd.
I’ve been way into oranges lately and have always loved clementines- ahem, mandarins! 😛 I am very envious of your tree! This creme brulee sounds so lovely (I’m not someone who needs dessert or even craves it much, but I find it difficult to pass up on a creme brulee opp).
I think I’m speechless. I cannot believe your tangerines. They are so gorgeous. My guess for your next pie treat is that you’re going to do something with your limes…..right?
wow! that sounds so good!! i love mandarin oranges! glad that your garden is growing so well 🙂
I just found your blog through Jaden’s and just love it. The photos are gorgeous and the creme brulee recipe is one I just have to make! I love creme brulee and this version looks delicious! I will definitely be back here more often!
Oooh, so beautious! I am so jealous of your garden (and bounty). Here in Wisconsin, I woke up to sunshine and 15 degrees. My kids love clementines, and I choke every time I see the price on those boxes. They would think they were in heaven if they could step outside and pick one off a tree. Great job on the creme brulee.
First of all, I’m completely envious of your garden. We have a porch. Granted, we have a meyer lemon and a lime tree on said porch, and both are, as you mentioned, going gangbusters, but no room for yuzu.
Second, the creme brulee looks terrific. My problem with using brown sugar in creme brulee has been less about the moistness and more about the caramelization — the brown sugar always tastes too burnt by the time it reaches the correct texture. Is this really a moistness issue by another name? Or is the burnt flavor sometimes desirable? (I imagine it’s a heartier flavor than the caramelized superfine sugar that I usually use.)
Arrrrr, I want some! No, I want lots and LOTS of creme brulee! Your tree looks so majestic… no, umm, powerful? No… err, just gosh darned DELICIOUS!
that is one good looking dessert and the photo with the crate of mandrins and the one that is peeled… i love it.
I gotta find my creme brulee set…
I just bought a blow torch 2 weeks ago and i am in love with it.
Brulee looks so yumm,
Man, I’d love to have one of those torchy thingies but my kitchen is so tiny over here in Japan that it would probably NOT be a smart thing (fire hazard-wise, I mean). In the meantime, I’m gonna drool over this here little dessert you guys’ve conjured. Oh my word. Wiping the slobber off my keyboard…
I’ve been meaning to break our kitchen torch out of the box for a few years now. This looks to be the right recipe to do it! I love the idea of using brown sugar. Your citrus trees are so beautiful!
Phoo-D
Todd — you need to get yourself one of the “industrial size” blow torches. You know the kind you get at the hardware store. Makes creme brulee so fast, and much more fun!
I had the good fortune of studying with Bo Friberg when I was in culinary school! It’s funny to look back on our recipes and see how dated they are. Styles of dessert definitely go in and out of fashion. Creme brulee, however, it always in fashion.
LOL Sweet jaw….I guess that means I would have to say I have a sweet head, lol. I love Brulees and now I want to eat one…immediately if not sooner!
Looks so good. And I always love a recipe that you can set on fire!