Bloody Crème Brûlée

A Bloody Crème Brûlée starts with a bit of red food coloring, transforming one of my family’s favorite desserts into a creepy Halloween dessert. 

This Halloween Treat is a ghoulish twist on the classic creme brulee recipe!

Why You Must Make

• According to my dear husband, my crème brûlée is the best he’s ever tasted. He’s been disappointed at enough restaurants to swear it off unless it’s made in my kitchen. How’s that for an endorsement?
• So for Halloween, I wondered whether I could get these custards red enough to become bloody brûlées.
• With my first attempt, I added a full bottle of red food coloring to the custard base. One full ounce. Yes, that’s a LOT of food coloring. It was pretty eerie looking, though a little pinker than I preferred. With this second attempt, I added an ample amount of gel food coloring to obtain a richer color. A bloody good show, eh?

Recipe Tips

• You must temper the egg yolks before adding them to the hot cream. This will prevent them from scrambling and reduce the chances of cooked egg yolk in the finished dessert.
• Tempering is a process of raising the temperature of the egg yolks before incorporating them into the cream. Slowly whisking in some of the hot cream helps raise the temperature of the yolks so there’s less of a drastic disparity in temperature when they’re added to the rest of the cream.
• Baking the creme brulee in a water bath helps keep an even temperature which helps ensure they keep their creamy texture.
• Red food gel works better than regular liquid food coloring as it’s much more concentrated and won’t dilute the custard. The resulting color will be red, not pink.

Halloween Desserts

Today, the Sunday Supper crew is sharing Halloween desserts featuring Dixie Crystals sugar. Everyone should make at least one ghoulish treat for Halloween. I suggest Bloody Crème Brûlée. Who doesn’t love cracking through the crisp sugar crust into the dreamy vanilla custard? Even if it’s a ghastly bloody red!

Disclaimer: no real blood was sacrificed by these skeletons to make this dessert. The picky husband cautiously took his first bite and declared this custard dessert a winner. It was as rich, silky, and creamy as my classic version, just dressed up for Halloween!

More Halloween Treats!

• Soft and Chewy Apple Cider Caramels by Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch
• Halloween Whoopie Pies by The Chef Next Door
• Mini Jack-O-Lantern Cakes by Renee’s Kitchen Adventures
• Mummy Apple Hand Pies by Eazy Peazy Mealz
• Pumpkin Chocolate Ganache Cake by Taste And See
• Pumpkin Cupcakes by Flour On My Face
• Halloween Spider Cookies by Moore or Less Cooking
• Plus, check out all my Holiday Recipes for more inspiration.

You Might Need:

• Culinary Torch (affiliate links)
• Six 4 oz. Porcelain Ramekins
• 10-Inch French Wire Whisk

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The Recipe:

Bloody Crème Brûlée

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Yield 9 desserts

A creepy twist on the classic creme brulee for Halloween.

Ingredients

• 4 cups heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean, slit in half lengthwise and seeds scraped
• ¾ cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 7 large egg yolks
• Red food coloring gel (I used no-taste red and burgundy gels)
• Turbinado sugar to dust over top of custard

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300º.
2. In a saucepan, heat cream, vanilla pod, vanilla seeds, sugar, and salt over medium heat, stirring occasionally, till bubbles form around the perimeter.
3. Do not bring it to a boil. Remove from heat.
4. Whisk eggs in a large glass measuring cup (or bowl).
5. Temper the yolks by adding a small amount of hot cream to the yolks while whisking.
6. Repeat a few more times, making sure to add the cream mixture very slowly and to keep whisking so the yolks do not cook.
7. Pour tempered yolks back into the pan and whisk till smooth.
8. Strain the mixture into a large measuring cup (you may reuse the cup utilized for tempering) to remove the vanilla pod, seeds, and any bits of cooked yolk.
9. Mix in food coloring until you get a deep red color.
10. Place nine 4-ounce ramekins in a roasting pan. Fill the ramekins to the top with custard.
11. Carefully place the pan in the oven, and pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the ramekins.
12. Bake until custard is set and jiggles slightly when shaken about 40-50 minutes.
13. Remove from the water bath and let cool for a half hour or so. Chill for at least 2 hours.
14. Before serving, sprinkle with a thin layer of turbinado sugar and broil (approximately 4 inches from the element) until the sugar caramelizes. Watch carefully as this takes less than a minute. You may also use a kitchen torch to caramelize.

Notes

Shallow ramekins take closer to 40 minutes while deeper ramekins can take 50-60 minutes.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

9

Serving Size:

1 ramekin
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 507Total Fat: 43gSaturated Fat: 26gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 293mgSodium: 113mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 0gSugar: 21gProtein: 9g

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