Red Velvet Creme Brulée for Two

As you know Matt & I love to eat out but we tend to avoid restaurants on holidays like Valentine's Day. The crowds, over-priced set menus & harried servers don't make for what we consider a special dining experience. So, we chose another night to go out & cook something special up at home. This year I decided to make Matt some French Onion Soup, his favorite, & something special for dessert. Since he is in San Francisco this week (someone explain to me why he gets to go to SF & Austin the two coldest weeks of the year & I get left in Mpls?!) I had some time to play with dessert ideas. I wanted something red velvet but not just your regular red velvet cake. At first I thought of panna cotta but I've watched enough Top Chef to know if you don't know what you're doing it won't set right. Then I thought of creme brulee. There are chocolate creme brulees so why not red velvet?!

I took the basic creme mixture, cream, egg yolks & sugar & added some cocoa, buttermilk & of course, red food coloring to turn it into red velvet.

The end result was a creamy, almost mousse like, brulee with a dark red crispy top & red velvet inside. The flavor was not overly sweet & just chocolatey enough. I can't wait to make it for Matt on Monday but, in the meantime, this test batch is all mine!


Red Velvet Creme Brulée for Two

3 large egg yolks
2 T white sugar
2 T unsweetened cocoa
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 c buttermilk
1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 - 1 t red food coloring
More sugar for the top (white or brown though I tried brown the second time & it worked a lot better)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Whisk the egg yolks & sugar together until well blended. Shift in the cocoa & whisk until there are no lumps. Whisk in the vanilla. Slowly whisk in the buttermilk & cream. Stir in the food coloring.

Put two 1 cup ramekins into a larger baking pan. Divide the batter between the two ramekins. Pour enough boiling water in the baking pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Carefully move into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. You want the sides to be set but the center to still be a little wobbily.

Let cool in the water for 30 minutes. Remove from the water bath, cover & refrigerate for 2 - 24 hours.

Sprinkle the top of the brulee with a good amount of sugar & melt with a torch or in the broiler. Keep a really close eye on it so the sugar doesn't burn. I find moving the torch around a lot helps though I did get a few little burns still.

Makes 2 servings.

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