Recipe: Spooky and Sweet Potato Crème Brulee

NEW ORLEANS — Over the course of its 300-year history, New Orleans’ cuisine has been one of its greatest gifts to the world. Now, as we celebrate the city’s 300th birthday and WWL-TV’s 60th anniversary, our gift to you is a free e-cookbook, with free summertime recipes.

Click here to download the free "Summer Favorites" cookbook as well as the previous editions with Recipes for Cajun cooking, Lent, Global Cuisine and Holiday Recipes.

This edition of our "360 In the Kitchen" cookbook series focuses on dishes that are perfect for the long, hot south Louisiana summer. Coping with the heat and humidity of a New Orleans summer has been a way of life here from the beginning. From salads and dishes with lighter sauces to icy cool desserts, our cookbook gives you some creative recipe ideas to try without sacrificing any of the flavor that New Orleans cooks are known for.

Spooky and Sweet Potato Crème Brulee

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup + 4 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 8 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup cooked sweet potatoes, mashed

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Arrange 6 4-oz ramekins in a 9×13 baking dish (although I used a pie plate).
2. In a saucepan, combine cream, brown sugar, 1/4 cup sugar and lemon zest. Bring to a simmer over medium-high and stir to make sure the sugar dissolves. Take the pan off the heat once that sugar has dissolved.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks until they get frothy and light yellow. Time to temper. Whisking constantly so the eggs don’t scramble, add 3/4 cup of the hot cream to the frothy eggs. Now add the egg mixture to the remaining hot cream and keep whisking constantly. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and sweet potatoes. Whisk until smooth and combined.
4. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl and strain the creme brulee mixture. Quick note: there will be some fibers in the sweet potatoes that won’t want to go through the sieve. If you want somewhat of a silky-smooth custardy texture, do not force the sweet potato through the sieve. Pour the custard into the ramekins (or pie plate).
5. Create a Bain Marie by pouring boiling water halfway up the sides of the ramekins (or pie plate). We always cook custards in a water bath to moderate the cooking temperature and ensure that the custard never reaches a high temperature. Bake until the custards are barely set in the center, about 45 minutes. Remove from the water bath and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, until thoroughly chilled.
6. Sprinkle each custard with 1/2 tsp sugar and caramelize it with a blow torch or the broiler in your oven.

More Recipes:

• Halloween Mummy Meatloaf, Butternut Squash Soup and Witch's Broomsticks
• Halloween Jalapeno Mummies with Bacon

Watch Chef Kevin Belton every Tuesday morning on Eyewitness Morning News on WWL-TV and WUPL.

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