Creme Brulee

My family likes to make crème bruleé. My mom would go to camp and my dad would always come up on the last night to help pack up, but he always brought my mom crème bruleé. People seem to think that this is a hard dessert to make, but we make it quite frequently because it really isn’t difficult. The hard part is the waiting

4 c heavy cream
9 egg yolks
¾ c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp sugar, for sprinkling afterwards

Preheat oven to 325 °. Begin heating 2 qts of water on the stove. Heat the cream and vanilla until simmering. Meanwhile, cream sugar and eggs together. Temper egg mixture and strain through a sieve. (Tempering is when you are bringing the temperature of the eggs up without actually cooking them and having them solidify. Add ½ c of heated cream mixture to the egg mixture. Do this two more times. Straining the mixture will take out anything that might have solidified.) Add the rest of the cream mixture to the egg mixture. Pour this final mixture into ramekins (My ramekins are big enough to divide into 8 dishes) so that it is between ½ to ⅔ full. Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet and place in the oven. Then put the preheated water in a pitcher and very carefully and slowly pour the water into the cookie sheet so that it ends up coming up ½ way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until it is almost set when gently shaken. Chill for at least 3 hours. When you’re ready to eat, sprinkle with the 2 tsp. sugar and use a propane or butane torch to carmelize the sugar.