Welcome, to my cOZy OZarks.: Creme Brulee.

This is not, "Cooking Light".

The following post, good recipe, bad photos, is strictly for fellow hedonists. And its brief. Because I've been really, ruhhhheeeeally busy.

Necessary equipment you might not have:

good instant-read digital thermometer
(4) 4-5 oz creme brulee dishes or souffle ramekins (the former are more shallow with larger diameter - I can't find mine. they're somewhere. damnit.)
and a tea kettle makes pouring the water a lot less, um, dangerous. for you and the custard...

the rest of the equipment most people have, but again, in a hurry, so read through if you need to!

La Creme Brulee

serves 4

2 cups heavy cream, chilled

⅓ cup granulated sugar

pinch salt

½ large vanilla bean, halved lengthwise (really gotta get a real bean, this is serious stuff)

6 lg egg yolks (again, go cage free, organic, clean-hippy, "granola" eggs - you'll thank me)

2 tablespoons turbinado (often called "raw") sugar, or Demerara sugar

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.

Combine 1 cup cream, sugar, and salt in medium saucepan; with paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into pan, submerge pod in cream, and bring mixture to boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that sugar dissolves. Take pan off heat and let steep 15 minutes to infuse flavors.

Meanwhile, place kitchen towel in bottom of large baking dish or roasting pan and arrange four 4- to 5- ounce shallow fluted (creme brulee) dishes or ramekins on towel. Bring kettle or large saucepan of water to boil over high heat.

After cream has steeped, stir in remaining 1 cup cream to cool down mixture. Whisk yolks in large bowl until broken up and combined. Whisk about 1/2 cup cream mixture into yolks until loosened and combined; repeat with another 1/2 cup cream. Add remaining cream and whisk until evenly colored and thoroughly combined. Strain through fine-mesh strainer into 2-quart measuring cup or pitcher (or clean medium bowl); discard solids in strainer. Pour or ladle mixture into ramekins, dividing it evenly among them.

Carefully place baking dish with ramekins on oven rack; pour boiling water into dish, taking care not to splash water into ramekins, until water reaches two-thirds height of ramekins. Bake until centers of custards are just barely set and are no longer sloshy and digital instant-read thermometer inserted in centers registers 170 to 175 degrees. This can be anywhere from 15 to 35 minutes, depending on the depth of the ramekins and your oven. Start checking at 15 minutes. Usually 25 minutes for creme brulee dishes and 30 minutes for traditional ramekins. NOTE: mine took almost 40 minutes this time. Your digital thermometer is your FRIEND. You want the coolest ramekin at JUST 170.

Transfer ramekins to wire rack; cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. Set ramekins on rimmed baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 4 days.

Uncover ramekins; if condensation has collected on custards, place paper towel on surface to soak up moisture. Sprinkle each with about 1 - 2 teaspoons turbinado sugar; tilt and tap ramekin for even coverage. Ignite torch and caramelize sugar. Refrigerate ramekins, uncovered to re-chill, 30 to 45 minutes but NOOOO longer; serve.