Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée

Mmmm... crème brûlée.... mmmm....

Crème brûlée is like the Kim Kardashian of desserts. Sexy, smooth, a little intimidating and appears out of reach to most... but when you look closely at it, just a hard shell on top but really easy to get into .. WHAMMY.

Haha ... creme brulee can be a birthday cake too!

I get it, it crème brûlée looks challenging. It is custard-like-thing... I was intimidated. I never thought I could even attempt it. And vanilla beans? Ya friggan right! Not in this girl's budget.

But..BUT... it was my foodie friend's birthday. And for her, cupcakes just wouldn't do. I needed to take it up a notch. I needed to go where no student ever thought they could go. And I knew her dad had a mini torch so I thought it was a perfect opportunity.

Now I know there are 100,000,000 different crème brûlée recipes out there. So mine isn't anything remotely special. I just wanted to share with you the one that worked for me. Because yes I tried it TWICE before success. Turned out the least complex recipe was the one that worked the best.

So here it is, my most successful therefore favourite crème brûlée recipe, adapted from The Sweet Pea Chef.  No tempering of eggs, no double boilers, no mess and fess.

How To: Make Modeling Chocolate



Birthday cake I made for a beautiful lady. I actually did make this whole thing from scratch!

Following up on my post on Chocolate Buttercream Icing that focuses on turning ordinary box-cake into your own masterpiece. What is a cake/cupcake without some decorations?

Now if you have ever ventured into the world of cake decorating, you would know what I am talking about when I say fondant, gumpaste, marzipan, etc.... if not... don't worry about it, you are not missing much, all you need to know is that this stuff is quite difficult to make at home but extremely expensive to buy. Am I right? Or am I right.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Okay. A personal confession, I think cake from a box... is amazing. I hate to admit that anything from a box is amazing. Except for mac and cheese of course. But honestly, it's hard to compete with. Box cake is usually super moist and delicious and it is super duper easy to make not to mention cheap as hell.

So yes, I sometimes make cake from a box. But that isn't gourmet! But what is gourmet is sprucing it up with some homemade icing. That's right, you can do something fancy and call it your own.

And comeon.. anything with the word "butter" in the title has to be friggan fantastic.

Maple Apple Cheddar Tart

Final recipe from my crescent roll collection and I must say, this is definitely one you need to keep an open mind about. Apples and cheese may be a classic combination but adding the element of maple syrup? Hmmm... even I needed a bit convincing on this one. It all started when I was trying to find a recipe that combined apples and cheese while using a "tart". I immediately stumbled upon Anna Olson's Maple Apple Cheddar Tart. It looked pretty and intriguing...then I saw it. The ingredient "maple syrup". Huh? Seriously? No way. Okay Anna, what were you thinking here? But since she IS a superstar, I have to give her the benefit of the doubt and plus since I am revamping the recipe to make it my own, I can always just leave it out.

Strawberry Cheesecake Crescent Roll

Next up on my crescent roll adventure is the Strawberry Cheesecake Crescent Roll. I LOVE cheesecake, one of my fave desserts by FAR. But sometimes it can be a bit labour instensive - except for those no-bake cheesecakes which are equally awesome. But I thought I would be a little creative and use what I had on hand.

Chocolate Banana Honey Crescent Rolls

 I am a sucker for a deal. Actually sometimes it is those deals that allow me to eat well on my iddy biddy budget. Lets take a look at crescent rolls for example. They are super easy to work with and quite versatile. So when I saw them for $1.00 a roll (regular $1.99) I snatched them up! Which leads me to my crescent roll chapter of this blog. In the next few days you will see a collection of recipes that I have created that are all based on crescent rolls!

Quick and Easy Rice Pudding

Rice pudding is a classic dessert that I remember having growing up. It is full of rich and creamy goodness. Now this dessert can be made to be devilishly fattening and amazingly delicious, but lets face it, our waist line can't handle it that often. So, I came up with a lighter version using ingredients that I normally have on hand. Such as.... Minute Rice. Yep... I said Minute Rice. Or instant rice. Still the same thing. All those foodies out there are probably cringing horribly right now. But what can I say? I'm a student and Minute Rice takes only.. well..minutes to cook! I bet the majority of students have a bag (or box) of rice kicking around in their pantry. Oh and did I mention I normally use brown rice too? Not traditional by any means, but it is slightly better for you so why the hey not.

Also, I mentioned earlier about how you can use Warm Apple Topping on rice pudding to take it up a notch. But you can top it with many things such as chocolate or nuts (you know, just to add a little twist here and there).

So are you ready for some easyness?

Quick and Easy Rice Pudding

1 cup of Brown Minute Rice
1 1/2 cups of Milk
1/4 cup of sugar  (use less if you want - or use brown sugar)
2 tsp of Cinnamon
Handful of Raisins (optional)
Splash of Vanilla
Pinch of Cinnamon
Glob of butter (optional)
1 egg (optional!!)

Put rice, milk, sugar, spices, vanilla and raisins in a pot and turn on high. (I like to add raisins early because they soak up some liquid and become nice and plump). Bring almost to a boil. But keep an eye on it because with milk, it can go from bubbly to overspill in seconds.

Once it hits high, turn heat to low and cook for approximately 15-20 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked stirring occasionally. Really, just follow the directions on the Minute Rice box (haha). If you find that the rice is a little dry, you can always add more milk - especially if you like it really creamy.

Once the rice is cooked, the egg can come into play if you like. But you need to TEMPER the egg. (What the heck is that? I will tell you) You need to crack and whip the egg in a separate bowl. Add a spoon-full of hot rice pudding to the egg and stir constantly. This will bring up the temperature of the egg mixture without cooking it. Then you can put that mixture  back into the rice pudding pot and stir until it is all incorporated. Let cook for another 2 minutes. Adding an egg creates a wonderful texture - really light and creamy.

Choose no egg? Just head straight to this step. Stir in a bit of butter (this is optional of course) to add an extra level of flavor and make it more creamy.

Serve warm or cold. 

Add Warm Apple Topping for some extra goodness!

Cooking Tip for 1: This can last in the fridge for a few days and some think it is even better cold. Surprisingly, it actually makes a good breakfast too. It is a good way to spoil yourself with dessert, but not kill your diet.