Sticky toffee crème brûlée.

I first saw this on master chef I think and took the idea and I must say it works very well.  Like most thing in life that look complicated actually are not all you have to do is stop think and then do, and it normally works out. Mind you that is probably easy for me to say  I have been cooking professionally for about twenty years or more and as my daughter always is saying when we are watching a cookery program I some times get annoyed with things saying , I would not do it like that.  The truth is that you can watch a million shows and read a thousand books, but nothing can beat experience.  So you will say why are you pinching a recipes from a cookery show then,  well than answer to that is simple , its really good. My whole career is spent on taking ideas from here and there and doing them in a way that I think works.  So here we go with this one.

You will need,

125g/4½oz caster sugar

8 egg yolks

125ml/4½fl oz single cream

125ml/4½fl oz milk

100ml/3½fl oz double cream

100g/3½oz muscovado sugar

8 or 10 stoned dates

A few good drops of vanilla essence

4 tsp plain flour

Caster sugar, for the topping

First, you need to start by making a custard.  Take 4 of the egg yokes and the caster sugar and add them to a bowl then take the milk and the signal cream and put them in a saucepan and start to heat that up.  As the milk and cream heat up whisk your egg yolks in to the sugar until it has changed colure and gone very light and think.  You want to heat the cream and milk up until it is very hot but not boiling.  Then take it off the heat and pour just a little on the eggs and sugar mix and work that together, add more and more until you have worked all the eggs sugar and cream milk mix together.  Then return this to the heat and heat gently until the custard ahs started to thicken. Do not walk away or stop stirring this and do not let it boil, or it will cook the egg yolks and that is not what you want.  Once it is cooked, remove it from the pan and into a bowl to cool a little.

Now take your dates and chop them up in to a small dice. Add them to the dark muscovado sugar in a saucepan along with the vanilla.  You can use other sugars but this dark sugar adds an extra depth to the dish that gives it a real toffee taste. Now add the double cream and slowly heat this up so all the sugar fully dissolves in to the cream and the dates go nice and soft then take it off the heat. Then with a hand blender just wiz this a few time to break up the dates and make it all nice and smooth.

Now take your flour and last 4 egg yolks and add that to the flour and work this together with a whisk so you have a smooth paste.  Then a little at a time add the custard making sure that you do not get any lumps of flour.  Once you have the custard combined with the eggs and flour then add the date and caramel cooking . make sure that every thing is fully mixed and then divided the mix in to some ramekins.

Now you need to cook them in a bath of water or bain-marie, so place in a roasting tin or high-sided dish.  The carry this over to the oven and pace on a shelf , then using a jug or kettle add the water to the roasting tin . I always find this a easier way than carrying it across the kitchen.  Fill the tin with water so the water is half way up around the edges of the ramekins and place it in a preheated oven set at 180c/350f.  Bake in the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes until they have set.  Then remove from the oven.  Once cooled a little take out of the water and chill completely in the fridge.

When you are ready to serve them, sprinkle some caster and glaze so you get a crunchy caramel top.

When Sticky toffee pudding and crème brûlée come together, it shows that some thing good can come out of European Union.