Floral Fixation - Lavender Crème Brûlée

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind of madness at work. I'm so glad I finally have a chance to share this recipe with you! Crème brûlée has always been one of my favorite desserts. I just love cracking that sugary top with the back of my spoon to get to the creamy goodness inside. Yum!

I decided to make crème brûlée this year as my Valentine's treat for Chris. For a creative and romantic twist, I tried infusing lavender into the cream. It was a hit! The subtle floral flavor balanced well with the richness of the custard. Crème brûlée is surprisingly easy to make, and I can't wait to give rose, jasmine, chrysanthemum, and violet a whirl sometime.

Lavender Crème Brûlée

Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons dried lavender flowers
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pure organic vanilla extract  
8 egg yolks
1⁄3 cup granulated sugar

Preheat your oven to 325°F. In a saucepan, combine and heat the cream, vanilla extract, salt, and lavender over moderate heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to simmer. 

Remove pan from heat and let the mixture sit at room temperature for about an hour. This gives the lavender flavor extra time to steep into the cream. Isn't this so pretty? :)

Reheat the infused cream to a low simmer, then remove from heat once again.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together into a slightly thickened mixture. Add this to the hot cream while whisking to mix completely. Make sure you pour slowly and mix evenly, to avoid making egg drop soup!!

Strain the custard mix through a fine sieve into a spouted bowl. Skim off any floating bubbles.

Fill six ramekins with the custard mix. Place them in a shallow roasting/baking pan, and add hot water until it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Tent the pan with foil and bake for 35-45 minutes. 

Remove the ramekins and allow them to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate uncovered until thoroughly chilled.

Dust the top with a thin, even layer of granulated white or turbinado sugar.

Calling all pyromaniacs- here's the fun part! Using a kitchen blowtorch, heat the sugar until it liquefies, bubbles, and browns. You can see Chris going to town with the torch here.

Allow the top to cool to a crisp, glossy coating. Sprinkle some loose flowers on top of you'd like an extra hint of flavor. Enjoy!

Let Heaven & Nature Sing

Hope you guys had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday! Chris and I were truly blessed and thankful for all the quality time spent with friends, family, and each other. Our friend from India, Sanjiv, joined us for the weekend, and we had such a blast setting up our Christmas tree together! We did not expect this tree to look so humongous in our apartment. I got chills when the lights came on :)

I mentioned a while back that I wanted to create a themed tree. Well, we finally decided on a "Nature" theme! We've split the tree into three tiers - Air, Land, and Sea - and are slowly collecting ornaments that represent various habitats. Here's a peek of what we have so far~

Air:

Land: This section has been the easiest to put together. Not sure which biome to classify the Sock Monkey under...

Sea: All we have right now is a lonely walrus. I picked up some dried starfish from Evolution to nestle in the branches and keep him company in the meantime. This section has been a bit harder to collect for, but that's part of the fun!

Diary of a Wannabe Gardener

Spring is here in full effect! I've been hearing lots of buzz about people planting carrots, strawberries, radishes, corn (?!?), and herbs this year, and have been itching to start an urban garden of my own.

Since I'm not known for my botany skills, I figured a terrarium garden would be a good place to start. Terrariums are a fun and practical way to create a miniature landscape inside your home. They don't require a lot of sunlight, and are ideal for people who are too busy to spend a lot of time caring for plants -- perfect for serial plant killers with black thumbs. Ahem.

I made this tiny terrarium at Anthopologie's Earth Day workshop. We used Ball canning jars and topped them off with tealight holders to allow optimum sunlight through. I had so much fun arranging the plants, and even carved a C+J inside a heart on the "tree". Once the plants become fully established within the enclosed environment, the terrarium will begin to function as a self-sustaining ecosystem. The plants transpire moisture, which then condensates on the glass and flows back down into the soil. Often, a closed terrarium can survive a month or more between waterings.

My jar terrarium has been sitting on our kitchen windowsill for two weeks. I've already witnessed tremendous plant growth as well as several water cycles. Now that I know how to create a viable terrarium, I'm looking forward to experimenting with different containers, plants, and designs. More later!