An easy, bright and fresh mango custard is topped with a crisp caramelized sugar crust in these Mango Creme Brulee that are perfect for individual desserts.
What is Creme Brulee?
Crème brûlée is a French dessert that literally translates to “burnt cream”. But, don’t be put off, the actual dessert is much more appealing than the translation sounds.
(You will find creme brulee called crema catalana in Spain or Trinity cream in England.)
So, what is it?
At its most basic level, creme brulee is a creamy baked custard that is topped with a hard layer of caramelized sugar. The sugar creates a fun, crackly crust that you must break to get to the cream below, giving the dish a beautiful contrast of creamy and crunchy textures.
Creme brulee is traditionally served in individual, shallow ramekins like you see in our pictures. These dishes allow for maximum caramelized sugar to custard ratio.
Our Easy Mango Creme Brulee Recipe
For our mango creme brulee recipe, we are using a very basic and easy to put together vanilla custard, that is poured over mango chunks in the ramekin.
The custards cook gently in a water bath, and as they do, the mango pieces infuse the custard with their tropical flavor.
But, the best part about creme brulee is the brulee-ing!
When the custards have cooled and are ready to serve, get our your brulee torch, or employ your oven’s broiler and get ready to caramelize some sugar.
It’s high temperatures that quickly turn granulated sugar into a crackly crust that is just begging to be cracked into with your spoon.
Enjoy!
Mango Creme Brulee
Ingredients
- ¾ c mango, diced
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 Tbsp sygar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 c heavy cream
- 1 ½ Tbsp sugar (for topping)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Place 4 (3 oz) ramekins in a baking dish (a 9x13 was the perfect size for us). Fill the baking dish with water so it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Distribute diced mango evenly among the ramekins.
- In a 2 cup liquid measuring cup (the spout here makes later steps easier), whisk together egg yolks and sugar.
- In a small saucepan, mix vanilla and cream. Heat over medium heat until the cream just begins to smoke and a film appears over the top. (You do not want the cream to boil.)
- Very slowly, pour the cream into the egg mixture, whisking constantly.
- Pour the egg mixture into the mango-filled ramekins, covering the mango chunks.
- Bake until the custards have set, 35 minutes.
- Transfer custards to a wire rack to cool completely. Then, refrigerate, uncovered, until well cooled (3-4 hours or overnight works well).
- Just before serving the crème brulee, sprinkle the top of each ramekin with roughly 1 tsp of sugar.
- Caramelize the sugar with a blow torch, or preheat your broiler to high and broil for 2-3 minutes.
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Sarah is one of Curious Cuisiniere’s founding duo. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
LOKNATH CHOUDHURY
Friday 15th of June 2018
I luv this French dessert myself!
Sarah Ozimek
Tuesday 19th of June 2018
It is quite tasty! So glad you enjoyed it!
Stacy
Sunday 21st of April 2013
Lovely little crème brûlées! I've never made any flavor beyond the traditional vanilla so I am looking forward to give these a try.
Nicole Cook
Friday 19th of April 2013
Oh my goodness, this recipe looks AMAZING. I love the idea of mango creme brulee. I adore mango!
Sarah
Saturday 20th of April 2013
Thanks Nicole!
floptimism
Friday 19th of April 2013
I love this review! I think in general the key is to reduce total sugar consumption, which makes more expensive but higher quality products like this one more realistic. I'm definitely going to try to work this product into my budget.
Sarah
Saturday 20th of April 2013
Very good point. If you don't use much sugar, it's a lot easier to use higher quality products, even if they are more expensive.
Juliet
Friday 19th of April 2013
Oh my, I definitely want to try this recipe. Creme brulee ranks toward the top on my "favorite desserts" list. Also, thanks for sharing the interesting information about sugar. :0)