Saffron Cardamom Creme Brulée

An exotic twist on a classic French recipe. The delicate fragrant saffron is what makes this dessert truly special.

• Ready In: 2 hrs
• Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1⁄3 g saffron
• 5  whole cardamom pods
• 2  teaspoons rose water
• 2  cups heavy cream
• 4  egg yolks
• 1⁄4 cup sugar

Directions

1. Bang cardamom pods lightly in a mortar and pestle. Add cream, saffron strands and cardamom to a small saucepan. Scald the cream (heat it on moderately high heat until little bubbles are forming around the edge) - watch it like a hawk - you don't want it boiling and you don't want to waste your precious saffron. Take it off the fire. Cover the saucepan and leave it sit for 30 minutes. Scald it again and take off the fire the let it sit for another 30 minutes (you want the saffron steeping for a long time to extract as much of the flavor as possible).
2. Pass the cream mixture though a fine sieve and discard the solids. If it's cooled down scald it once more.
3. Combine egg yolks, sugar and rose water in a deep bowl. Whisk it with a fork to a paste. Temper in the cream mixture (slowly add the warm cream in while stirring so the egg mixture does not heat up too fast and start to cook).
4. Pour the liquid into 3 or 4 ounce creme brulée ramekins and set up a bain marie - that is a water bath - you do this by placing the ramekins in a roasting or baking pan and add water to the pan so that it reaches almost as high as your custard level. Be careful not to let water get into the ramekins.
5. Bake in the oven at 325 for about 30 minutes. It is done when it jiggles only slightly in the middle when the ramekin is tapped from the side. I recommend checking on it at 20 minutes and every 5 minutes thereafter. It's hard to predict how long it will take. Remove from the oven and from the bain marie. Let cool on the countertop and once cooled down refrigerate.
6. 5 minutes prior to serving take out of the fridge and dust the tops with sugar in the raw then get out your butane torch and burn the sugar going slowly from spot to spot.