Crème Brûlée and a Blowtorch for Christmas?

Hey everyone!

Waking up at 5:45 in the morning is seldom a happy way to start the day (at least for me). But I figured I wanted to get some extra study-time in before my exam this morning, and so that's why I did it...although I did hit snooze a few times ;) Anyway, despite the fact that I woke up so early, I was greeted by a happy surprise when I looked out my window:


Doesn't that picture almost look magical? lol My camera wasn't focusing very well, and it kept wanting to focus on the snowflakes instead of the landscape, but I actually think I like it better that way! It matches my sleepy/dreaminess at 6am (or whenever this picture was taken) :)

Anyway, after pulling myself away from the window (which was not easy to do!), I pulled out my notes and got an extra hour of study-time in before my exam. The exam was...difficult. But right now I'm trying not to think about it and just focusing on the fact that I studied the best that I could and for better or worse, it is at least *over*.

After the exam, we still had class, but that was ok because we made crème brûlée!! Crème brûlée is a mixture of cream, milk, egg yolks, and sugar aka it is rich and delicious!

We also made crème caramel (or flan) in class, a dessert which I personally am not that big a fan of, but it was still cool to learn how to make it!

This is a picture of one of the first steps in the flan production. First, you make caramel and coat the bottom of the ramekins with the caramel, and then you fill the ramekins with the custard. To serve the dish, you flip the entire dessert upside down, so the caramel is on the top, and it kinda oozes down the sides of the custard :)

Chef also taught us how to make ice cream and sorbet in class. This is vanilla ice cream. Ice cream is actually one of the only dishes we have made so far that I've had previous experience making - thank you Missy and Mandy! :)

This is raspberry sorbet - it was delicious!


Here is Chef's final presentation: the flan is on the right hand side and the crème brûlée is in the back. The ice cream and sorbet are in the big bowls behind the crème brûlée.


A close up of the flan with a vanilla bean on top.

Now, here are pictures of my dishes:

Crème caramel (or flan). See how the caramel oozes over the top? :)

Crème brûlée :) And *yes*, I *did* have to use a blow torch to caramelize the top! After the custard has baked in the oven, you sprinkle some sugar on top of the dish and pretty much go for it with the blow torch! haha I was a little apprehensive about using it, but once I got started, I loved it! I don't know why it was so much fun, but it really was! This might be going overboard, but I'm thinking about asking for a blowtorch for Christmas!

We also made and colored (with an airbrush) marzipan (which is a play-dough-like substance you can mold) animals and flowers. Chef gave us creative liberty, so we could basically make any animals or flowers we wanted! I made a duck, a pig, a rabbit (with a carrot), 2 turtles, a frog, a pumpkin, and 2 roses:

I had originally only intended on making one turtle, but I couldn't resist making a little baby one too! lol ;)