Pumpkin crème brûlée

Preheat the oven to gas mark 2, 300°F/130°C fan (or 150°C conventional). Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a mixing bowl until well combined.

Warm the heavy whipping cream in a saucepan, over a low heat. Stir regularly to prevent the cream catching on the pan.

Once warmed, add the cream to the egg mixture gradually. Strain into a large jug or bowl with a pouring lip.

Whisk in the pumpkin purée, ground cinnamon, and ground ginger. Pour the mixture evenly into 9 ramekins and transfer the ramekins into a casserole dish. Boil a kettle and fill the baking dish with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Carefully transfer to the oven for 35 minutes. Remove and let the ramekins cool to room temperature then cover and refrigerate until ready to caramelize the top and serve.

To caramelize the top, bring the crème brûlées back up to room temperature. Place 0.2 oz/16g sugar on the top of each brûlée and gently swirl to spread evenly out on the top. Using a kitchen torch, move in a circular motion until the top is a rich amber color. The brûlées are now ready to serve.

Tips & tricks

As there are few elements involved in making a crème brûlée, you’ll want to select the finest ingredients available to you. Some chefs will make homemade pumpkin purée for this reason, but as long as you invest in the best ingredients available you should have a tasty pumpkin crème brûlée to serve to your guests.

Only use the yolks from your eggs. You can potentially include the egg whites, but you’ll find the end result will be firmer and a little less inviting in texture. The next key important step is to add the warmed cream to the egg mixture very slowly. If you heat the egg mixture too quickly you’ll have a lumpy crème brûlée on your hands. We’ve included ground cinnamon and ginger in the recipe above, but you could make your own pumpkin pie spice mix to add to this dish. With an ingredient list of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice, it’s likely you’ll already have these ingredients in your cupboard.
As in the recipe above we’ve recommended that you don’t caramelize the top until you’re ready to serve. This is a very important part of the recipe, and it’s what makes the dessert a brûlée, which literally means burnt in French. You will need a kitchen blowtorch for this step so make sure you have this equipment prepped before baking this dessert. Use the tip of the flame to warm the sugar and, if you’ve taken care to spread it evenly over the top, you should get that signature crunchy lid. You can also switch in lots of different ingredients to this dish so once you’ve had your fill of pumpkin crème brûlée recipes, why not try a sweet potato crème brûlée? Or, if you’re pumpkin obsessed this fall, we have plenty more pumpkin recipes to try, with pumpkin risotto with sage being a firm favorite.

How to serve it

A crème brûlée can be served on its own. Encourage your guests to crack the sugar lid first for that satisfying snap. It’s also possible to actually make a pumpkin crème brûlée in mini pumpkins. You’ll just need to hollow out a few mini pumpkins and pour the crème brûlée mix into these vessels instead of ramekins. This takes a little additional time but can put that extra special touch on a dinner party dessert.

Storage

You can store pumpkin crème brûlée in the fridge, covered for up to three days. As mentioned, it’s best to hold off caramelizing the top until you’re ready to serve to guests.