Creme Brulee - Easier than you might think

I find that the fanciest deserts are often the easiest to make.

Tiramisu? Looks fancy, tastes divine, hard to mess up.

Same goes for creme brulee

Creme brulee requires 4 ingredients and minimal cooking time. What you will need, however, is a brulee torch.

I made this Tuesday night to finish off John's welcome home dinner.

Want to try your hand at it?

Or just need a good reason to go out and buy a brulee torch?

Creme Brulee

(Recipe from Canadian Living)

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a saucepan, heat 1 1/2 cups whipping cream until steaming. Add in 1/2 tsp vanilla.
• In a bowl whisk together 4 egg yolks and 1/6 cup sugar. Slowly whisk the cream into the egg mixture.
• Pour into 4 ramekins and place the ramekins into a cake pan. Fill the cake pan halfway with hot water. Bake the creme brulee for 35 minutes until the edges are set but the centres still jiggle.
•  
• Place the ramekins in the fridge for 2 hours until chilled and set. Right before serving, sprinkle the tops of each creme brulee with granulated sugar and heat with the brulee torch until the sugar begins to brown and bubble.

Internet! And Earl Grey Tea Cookies!

I've been MIA again but this time I had a very valid excuse.

John was in Chatham, Ontario doing some work for the past week and he took his laptop with him to get some work done. That left me with no working computer. So as much as I wanted to I was unable to get onto the internet. I switched my phone plan so I have unlimited social stuff - facebook, twitter, etc, but I can't browse the internet on my blackberry.

Woah is me.

But I'm back!

I did the Mitsubishi City Chase with my friend Kashyap on Saturday and it was so much fun. We began the morning at Yonge-Dundas Square and were given a clue to find the location of our cheat sheets. Once we grabbed our cheat sheets from Nathan Phillips Square, we had to solve some clues to find the 40 locations where we could collect chase points. Once you found the location you travelled to it and then completed an activity. We did a photo scavenger hunt, ate organic dog food, pushed a car, played wheelchair basketball, and retrieved hockey pucks from a pool among other things.

It was a ton of fun and a great way to experience the city.

If there's one in your city or if there's one in a city you would like to see I highly recommend participating in it!

Before John left for his week away, I asked him if there was anything he would like to take with him. He told me one of the girls on his crew had requested earl grey tea cookies. I've made them a few times but to mixed results. The cookie is of the ice box variety and as such, often has waaaaay to much butter to hold its shape when I bake it.

Not wanting to get realy frustrated and throw out batch after batch of cookies, I changed the recipe slightly.

For delicious, fool proof tea cookies follow this recipe!

(and feel free to substitute any other type of tea you want in place of earl grey)

Jamie's Earl Grey Tea Cookies

• In a bowl, beat together 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup butter, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1 egg.
• In a seperate bowl, mix together 2 1/2 cups flour and 1 tsp baking soda. Cut open 8 earl grey tea bags and mix the tea into the dry ingredients. Stir into the butter mixture and mix until combined.
• Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out half of dough on a floured surface. Cut out cookies into desired shapes and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
• Bake for 7-8 minutes then let cool and enjoy.

My Drunk Kitchen (in London!)

Another installment.

Don't cheat and go to her youtube page.

Let me post them all for you.

Because everyone likes Mac & Cheese...

More Drunk Kitchen

Because I cam absolutely in love with this girl,

My Drunk Kitchen presents: Not Easy, Bake Oven.

"Cream together the butter? Oh, I really don't know what that means!"

I've only baked drunk once before. The result was the most amazing chocolate cheesecake I've ever had.
Perhaps it is once again time to go down this road...

Since I've been gone...

I'll start off by appologizing, once again, for my extended absence.

I've been working 40 hour weeks and surprisingly it's kept me busier than when I was in school AND working part time.

Weird.

Things I promise to update you on in the near future: my knack for softball, the things I plan on baking this summer, books I have and will read (and recommend you do too), and more.

I can't promise I'll be around to post too much this week, however, as I am taking a one week intensive class on Occupational Health & Safety.

In theory, one week of class is a much better idea then taking it once a week from September to December.

In theory.

In practice it is a lesson in patience and hard work.

My attention span isn't the greatest and I am a super fidgety person. I blame this fact for my constant knuckle cracking. I can't sit still from 8:30 in the am until 6 in the pm. It's too much to ask of one person.

Yes, we get breaks and yes, my bladder is too small to allow me to go more than 2-3 hours without urinating but it doesn't change the fact that I was not meant to sit for hours on end.

The class itself is alternately interesting and super boring.

I have my first quiz tomorrow morning and then the final 2 quizes on Friday.

The completion of the final quiz will subsequently lead into my wino-style drinking celebration of not having to sit in a classroom again until September.

Speaking of drinking,

my good friend shared this hilarious video series with me and I am hooked.

I think you will be too.

I'm angry I didn't think of this first, though admitedly I don't have Hannah Hart's comedic timing and wit (though I do in my day dreams - not the same thing).

Anyway, I will post a video for every day this week to keep you entertained and to make up for not posting more frequently.

Enjoy!

Hart & Co Present: TACOS!