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So, the other day, my friend Alexis and I found ourselves the proud possessors of a couple packages of Peeps. Neither of us really enjoy snacking on these extra-sugary Easter snacks (possibly because neither of us celebrates Easter?), and we began to think of other ways we could dispose of them. We microwaved a few, but that's been done so many times that we found the experience supremely unsatisfying.
"You know what we could do?" I asked.
"What?" Alexis wondered.
"Torch them with your blow torch."
Now, before you go getting any ideas about Alexis, you should know that she spends her spare time making French delicacies, including but not limited to crème brûlée, and the six-inch-tall blow torch she keeps in her kitchen will not make an appearance in any Spider-Man comics any time soon. But, arch-villain or not, Alexis is just devious enough to try things like this. And suddenly there we were with a ramekin stuffed with Peeps. It was amazing how quickly the sugar-coated, well, sugar, caramelized. And then it was only a few steps to burnt. (That's what you see in the picture above.) We couldn't help ourselves, despite being self-proclaimed Peeps-haters: we grabbed two spoons, cracked through the caramelized sugar on top, and partook of the melted sweeter-than-marshmallow melted marshmallow cream that remained behind in the ramekin.
"Alexis," I said, "we should really try making Peep brûlée."
"We should," she replied, "except that I'm all out of heavy cream."
And thus ended our dream of culinary innovation, but not Alexis's creative genius. What follows after the jump is her personal crème brûlée recipe, complete with Peeps addition. Please know that this recipe is completely untested, and possibly a joke, and don't blame Foodsday Tuesday or Alexis if it's completely inedible. I promise we'll have something tastier next week.
Peep Brûlée
2 cups heavy cream
4 egg yolks, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Peeps
Raspberry coulis (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Over medium heat, combine cream and sugar. Combine cream mixture & yolks, remembering to temper the eggs first. (To temper eggs, bring the eggs slowly up to the temperature of the cream, by constantly stirring them and slowly drizzling the cream mixture into the egg yolks.) Strain mixture, if you're not confident in your tempering skills, then divide it into 4 ramekins.
Line a large pan with a clean kitchen towel (in a pinch, newspaper will do, but you'll hate the clean-up), place ramekins in pan and pour hot water into pan, filling so that the water reaches at least halfway up the ramekins (two-thirds of the way up would be better). Cover pan loosely with foil and bake 30-35 minutes (the center of each crème brûlée should jiggle when it's ready to come out of the oven; any later than this stage and you'll end up with stiff custard). Remove ramekins, cool to room temperature, then cover each ramekin before setting them in the refrigerator (for as long as it is necessary to get them cold).
Before serving, cram the top of your crème brûlée with the Peeps of your choosing, then take a blow torch to them, allowing the sugar to lightly caramelize (don't char them like we did, above -- we got a little carried away). For a fun and morbid look, yellow peeps drizzled with raspberry coulis would scare small children away from the dessert table.
Photo snapped by the contributor, and edited by co-conspirator Alexis Nguyen
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