Tahitian Vanilla Crème Brûlée with Buttery Shortbread Fingers

⏱ 110 min · Serves 4

Silky baked custard perfumed with floral Tahitian vanilla, hidden under a glass-thin sheet of caramel, with crisp shortbread fingers for dunking. The crack of the spoon is the best sound in dessert.

Per serving: 865 kcal · 9.0g protein · 62.0g carbs · 66.0g fat

Ingredients

• 500ml double cream
• 1 Tahitian vanilla pod, split and scraped
• 5 large egg yolks
• 70g caster sugar
• pinch of fine sea salt
• 4 tbsp demerara or caster sugar, for the tops
• For the shortbread:
• 120g plain flour
• 30g cornflour
• 40g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 100g cold unsalted butter, diced
• pinch of salt

Method

1. Heat oven to 150C/130C fan. Put the cream, scraped vanilla seeds and the pod into a pan and bring just to a simmer, then take off the heat and leave to infuse 20 minutes.
2. Whisk the yolks, 70g caster sugar and salt until pale, no more than a minute — you don't want much air.
3. Remove the vanilla pod, then pour the warm cream slowly onto the yolks, whisking gently. Strain through a fine sieve into a jug and skim any foam.
4. Divide between four shallow ramekins set in a deep roasting tin. Pour hot water into the tin to come halfway up the sides.
5. Bake 30–40 minutes, until set at the edges with a slight wobble in the centre. Lift out, cool, then chill at least 3 hours (or overnight).
6. For the shortbread, heat oven to 170C/150C fan. Rub the butter into the flour, cornflour, sugar and salt until it clumps, then press together into a dough.
7. Roll to 1cm thick, cut into fingers, prick with a fork and chill 15 minutes. Bake 18–20 minutes until pale gold; dust with sugar while warm and cool on a rack.
8. Just before serving, blot the custard tops with kitchen paper, sprinkle 1 tbsp sugar over each and caramelise with a blowtorch until deep amber. Rest 2 minutes so the top hardens, then serve with the shortbread.