How Instant Pot Cookie Butter Creme Brulees are Bringing Sexy Back

Nothing is sexier than creme brulee. It's rich. It's thick. It's just sweet enough. It has a crust that only shatters when you tap it with a spoon to reveal the treasure that lays beneath it. Unfortunately, it is also a bit of an ordeal to make at home but not if you have a pressure cooker.

Creme brulee in my Instant Pot is a revelation. Long gone are the days of tempering the custard, trying my best not to curdle it but straining it before adding it to the ramekins just in case there were little bits of scrambled egg in there. Bye bye water bath that I always slosh all over the damned place when I am trying to get the cumbersome pan in and out of a hot oven. No more heating up the house for an hour which ensured that this was NOT a dessert I often made in the summertime. 

The most exciting thing about making our favourite dessert in the Instant Pot is that I if I don't want to have six pots of fatty goodness teasing me from the fridge, I can whip up a single serving with the odd spare egg I have lying around from time to time which allows me to stay firmly perched on top of my son's list of favourite mothers. It's a jungle out there.

 COME ON. This single serving dessert will kick that microwave brownie in a mug's ass.

Regarding cookie butter: I know that most of you think that this stuff is best consumed with spoon, straight from the jar, in the middle of the night when everyone else in the house is asleep and I do feel you. That said, save a little bit of this sugar crack to use in your dessert making adventures, like swirling it into a batch of brownies or cheesecake before you pop it into the oven. Or, better yet,  turn into white chocolate ganache - an unexpected little surprise you that greets you when your spoon scrapes the bottom of the ramekin.

Feel free to use any flavour of cookie butter that you like in this recipe. We have made it with our PC Cookie Butter, the Trader Joe Spekuloos Cookie Butter as well as their Pumpkin Pie Spice Cookie Butter ( a limited edition seasonal item that I hope comes back this year) but if you have any other flavour laying around, use that. If you have a jar of Octopus Cookie Butter in your cupboard, knock yourself out!  I do recommend that you stick to the white chocolate. It looks better and the mild flavour complements without overpowering.

Cookie Butter Creme Brulee  

makes 6 4oz ramekins

white chocolate cookie butter ganache:
36 grams chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips
1/4 cup cookie butter
1/4 cup heavy cream

creme brulee:
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup heavy cream

6 tbls sugar

Make the ganache by heating the cream in a steel bowl set over a simmering pot of water. Mix the chopped white chocolate in with the cream and stir gently, until it starts to melt and then stir the cookie butter and whisk until all the chocolate is melted and the cookie butter is fully incorporated.

Divide the ganache evenly between 4 to 6 ramekins and put those in the freezer to harden (leave them at least 15 minutes or more)

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until the yolks are pale yellow and then whisk in the vanilla and the cream, making sure it's totally incorporated. Pour through a fine strainer into a bowl with a pouring spout. Take the ramekins out of the freezer and divide the custard evenly between them.

Pour 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pot to build steam and then place the trivet in.
Cover each ramekin with tin foil and put four down on top of the trivet in your cooking pot. Carefully stack the next two on top of the bottom four, cover and cook at high pressure for 8 minutes with a 2 min quick release
(it took about 6 minutes to come to pressure so that makes a total of 16 minutes from start to finish)

**You can cook this without the pressure cooker in a water bath in a 300F oven for 40-45 minutes if you like but using a pressure cooker is quicker and more efficient

Remove from the pot and let cool to room temperature before putting them in the fridge where they should remain for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Right before serving, remove them from the fridge, sprinkle each one with 1 tbls of sugar, fire up your blow torch and torch each one until the sugar bubbles, browns and turns into a nice sugary crust.

To make a single serving of creme brulee:

white chocolate cookie butter ganache:
1 tbls chopped white chocolate (or a heaping tbls of white chocolate chips works well)
1 tbls cookie butter
2 tsp heavy cream

creme brulee:

1 large egg yolk

2 tbls sugar (1 tbls for the custard and the other for the crust)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup heavy cream

put the white chocolate and the cookie butter in a small bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Give a vigorous stir with a small spatula until the chocolate is melted and incorporated with the soft cookie butter. Now add in the cream and stir again until smooth.

Put the cookie butter ganache into the bottom of the ramekin and let it sit in the freezer to harden for at least ten minutes.

When it's time to cook, beat 1 tbls of the sugar and egg yolk together with a small whisk until the yolk is pale yellow. Whisk in the cream and vanilla and pour into the 4 oz ramekin that you have removed from the freezer. Cover the ramekin with some tin foil.

Put 1 cup of water in the pot and set the ramekin on the trivet. Cook at HP for 9 minutes and let it NPR for 6 minutes before releasing the steam and removing the lid. Check to make sure that the custard is set and just a bit wiggly in the middle. If it looks too liquid, put the foil back on and cook it for one more minute at HP with another 4 or 5 minutes NPR. Take the ramekin out and let it cool on the counter til room temp and then chill it in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

When it's time to eat, take the creme brulee out of the fridge, put the second tbls of sugar on the surface of the custard and get out your blow torch. Torch the sugar until it bubbles and browns and turns into a hard, caramel crust. Let it cool a bit and then dig in.