Masala Chai Creme Brûlée
A classic French dessert with an Indian twist, this Masala Chai Creme brûlée recipe has all the amazing warm baking spices and black tea in Masala chai with the fun of cracking through that brûléed top! Plus, all these fall spices make this dessert perfect for Thanksgiving dessert and for all of your holiday baking needs.
What’s The Difference Between Creme Brûlée and Custard?
All creme brûlées are custards, but not all custards are creme brûlée. What makes a creme brûlée a creme brûlée is the burnt sugar topping that you have to crack through to get to the custard filling. But what is a custard? A custard is basically dairy and eggs cooked together where it’s thickened by the coagulation of the egg proteins. Sometimes it’s the consistency of a sauce and sometimes it is baked and can stand free form and sometimes it’s in between. This Masala Chai Creme Brûlée recipe is in between, but the best part is that custards and creme brûlée are gluten free!
The Origin Of Creme Brûlée
Even though Creme Brûlée is French for “burnt cream,” France, Spain, and England all lay claim to its origin story. While England has a similar recipe from the 1400’s, and Spain has one from medieval times, France owns the first published creme brûlée recipe in 1691. It wasn’t super popular or well known as a dessert until it found itself on the dessert menu of a high-end New York City restaurant La Cirque. Now it’s hard to find a French restaurant that DOESN’T have creme brûlée on their menu. Read more about it’s history here!
Masala Chai Creme Brûlée Ingredients
- Whole spices: I love the cozy vibes whole spices give off and they are authentic for an Indian inspired creme brûlée, but if you are not into whole spices, you can use ground. 1/4 tsp cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and 1/8 tsp nutmeg, cloves, black pepper. Alternatively you can just use 3 chai tea bags to replace both the spices and the black tea.
- Black tea: Loose leaf or bagged is good to go! I would just made sure it is plain black tea like English breakfast.
- Egg yolks: This requires a lot of egg yolks so be sure to check out my egg white heavy recipes to use up some of those whites!
Major Allergens Present: Dairy, eggs
Equipment Needed
If you don’t have a mixer then no problem! This is one my few recipes that do not use a mixer.
- 3 oz ramekins: Used to bake the creme brûlée in, and they should be oven safe. This recipe makes six 3-ounce chai tea creme brûlée, so be sure to multiply if your ramekins are larger. Please note the shape makes a difference. If it’s wide and shallow then it will take less time to cook than something like mine pictured that has mostly equal width, depth, and height.
- Blowtorch: Used to caramelize the sugar on top. There are no alternatives for this as this is what makes creme brûlée creme brûlée. If you like to flame on, check out my other blowtorch recipes!
How to Make Masala Chai Creme Brûlée:
What is Masala Chai Creme Brûlée Made Out Of?
Creme brûlée is a type of custard and the chai creme brûlée ingredients are cream, milk, sugar, and egg yolks to thicken. In addition to these basic ingredients, we use whole spices and black tea to make this a chai tea creme brûlée. The whole spices used are classic flavors for fall baking.
Steep the Spices and Tea:
In order to taste those spices and black tea, you need to steep it in the dairy first. For whole spices I prefer to toast them first. You can either do that directly in the pan before adding your dairy, in the oven at 350*F for 10 minutes, or with a blowtorch. Toasting the spices gives off better flavors. Once toasted, combine with the dairy and sugar and bring to a boil. At this point add in your tea bags, and allow to steep for 15 minutes. We don’t add the tea bags before boiling because we do not want a super bitter taste. Remove the tea bags after the 15 minutes and be sure to squeeze out the liquid.
Make the Creme Anglaise:
Many custard desserts, like this chai creme brûlée, use a classic creme anglaise base. A creme anglaise is boiling dairy, tempering into eggs, cooking until it coats the back of a spoon (called nappé) or until it is 170-180*F, and then cooling over an ice bath to prevent carryover cooking. Tempering is the act of slowly trying to match two different textures or temperatures to prevent shock. This is a classic technique for sauces, custard desserts, and ice cream bases; know it well.
Bake Chai Tea Creme Brûlée in a Water Bath and Why We Use One:
Since creme brûlée is a custard, it requires a water bath! A water bath is baking your dessert in a container filled with water. Fill your container until it is halfway up your ramekins. Since custards use egg proteins to solidify the bake, a water bath aids in even even cooking and coagulation of these egg proteins. This leads to silkier, smoother texture and better flavors.
A water bath also keeps the temperature at 212*F and cooks it using indirect heat. Indirect heat is much less harsh for the delicate custard and egg proteins. Slow and steady wins the race for egg proteins because the slower they coagulate, the better flavors they release. Test for doneness by giving the ramekin a nudge. It should have a slight jiggle in the center and the internal temperature should be around 170*F.
Blowtorch the Masala Chai Creme Brûlée and Serve
Once your creme brûlée is cold, it’s time to torch! Spoon about a tablespoon of sugar on top, and make sure it’s evenly distributed. Hold your flame about 1-2 inches away, and start torching the outside ring. Move in a slow, steady circle around; it will bubble and start turning brown. Don’t let the flame sit in one area unless that area needs extra attention. Once the outer rim is all set, move to the center until done. Allow to cool until hard, and serve immediately! Since this dessert contains no flour, it’s perfect for our gluten free friends! If the caramelized sugar melts, you can always retorch it.
Help Making Masala Chai Creme Brûlée:
How to make creme anglaise:
- Always prep all of your ingredients beforehand and have them at arms length while cooking your anglaise which includes a thermometer.
- Combine the dairy with your sugar and any flavors, and bring to a boil on high heat. While you’re waiting, prepare your ice bath by filling a bowl with one part water and three parts ice. Place a smaller bowl inside, and top with a fine mesh strainer. Have that close by and at the ready.
- Slowly pour a small amount of your boiling dairy into your egg yolks while you whisk constantly. The technical term for this process is tempering. Switch to spatula for the next parts.
- Return your egg mixture into your pot of dairy, and reduce the heat to medium low so the cooking doesn’t go too fast. While it cooks, you’ll want to scrape the sides and bottom of the pot with your spatula so you don’t curdle those areas that are usually in direct contact with the heat source. Once it coats the back of your spoon or reaches 170*F, immediately remove from heat and pour into your strainer over the ice bath. Stir on occasion so you distribute the coldness evenly.
- Check out this post for more details on how to make creme anglaise.
How to tell when creme brûlée is done baking:
- Chai tea creme brûlée has finished baking when there is a slight jiggle in the center when moved. You can also wet your finger and touch the top. It should have a slight bounce and should not stick to your finger.
- If you’re nervous or unsure about the baking time, use your thermometer. The internal temperature of cooked creme brûlée is 170-175*F. Do not cook beyond 185*F which is where egg proteins tend to start curdling.
Enhancing This Masala Chai Creme Brûlée:
- Instead of black tea you can try different types of tea like earl grey for an earl grey creme brûlée.
- The cozy warm spices certainly makes this perfect for winter baking, so if you wanted to accentuate that feeling, serve with some winter fruit on top like pears and oranges or add some orange zest to your custard base.
How to Store and Freeze Masala Chai Creme Brûlée
- Do not freeze any part of the creme brûlée.
- Store the base in a container in the fridge for no more than 4 days before baking.
- Store the baked creme brûlée in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you’ve already brûléed the top and have left over, you can always re-torch the top, but make sure to sop up the melted caramel with a paper towel.
Troubleshooting Masala Chai Creme Brûlée:
- My custard came out grainy and chunky! You over-baked your brûlée! It is difficult telling whether it is done or not and your ramekins may be larger or shallower than mine are. Start it off at 30 minutes and check every so often. It should have a jiggle in the center when nudged.
- My anglaise base has chunks in it! You over cooked it! You will have to start over, unfortunately. Next time, only cook it until it reaches 175*F and coats the back of a spoon. DO NOT let it come to a boil. Check out this post on how to make creme anglaise.
Something else going wrong? Reach out and we will troubleshoot together!
Masala Chai Creme Brûlée
Equipment
- 6 3-ounce ramekins
- Blowtorch
Ingredients
- 15 pods Green cardamom whole
- 2 sticks Cinnamon whole
- ¼ inch Cube Fresh ginger grated or peeled
- 1 tsp Cloves whole
- 1 Nub Nutmeg whole
- ½ tsp Black peppercorns whole
- 310 g Heavy cream
- 310 g Whole milk
- 75 g Light brown sugar
- 2 Bags Black tea
- 8 ea Egg yolks
- 4 Tbs Granulated sugar For brûlée top
Instructions
- Add all of the whole spices to a pot and turn on the heat to medium. Allow to toast in the pan tossing around occasionally until very fragrant and lightly browned.
- Add the heavy cream and milk then whisk in the brown sugar. Turn the heat to high and allow to come to a boil.
- Remove from heat and add in the tea bags. Allow to steep for 15 minutes or until flavorful.
- In the meantime, prepare an ice bath for your creme anglaise base.
- Remove the tea bags from the dairy, squeezing out the extra liquid and flavor, and bring back to a boil.
- Temper into your egg yolks by whisking a small amount of the dairy into the yolks. Return everything to the pot and cook with a spatula instead of a whisk. Stir constantly using the spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the pot. Continue cooking until nappe (coats the back your spatula) or until 170℉.
- Immediately strain into your ice bath and allow to cool until still warm stirring occasionally. Preheat the oven to 300℉.
- Place your ramkeins in a baking dish and fill the ramekins with your base until ⅙-¼ inch from the top. Fill your baking dish with water about a third or half way up the ramekins. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until there is a slight jiggle in the center and is lightly firm to the touch when poked with a wet finger. Please note that if you have more shallow ramekins that it will take less time. If you have larger ramekins, it may take more time.
- Allow your creme brûlée to chill in the fridge for about 2 hours or overnight before serving. Evenly sprinkle the top with granulated sugar and burn with your blowtorch until a deep amber color. Allow to cool and harden before enjoying.
OMG this was so good!! I’m a huge fan of chai so this was a must for me to make and I’m glad I did!!
Good bye traditional crème brûlée and hello twists! Really really good! I had some masala blend already so I used that (way too much of it but it was so good I was ok with it. Will use less next time, yes there will be a next time). This recipe is genius, I can’t go back to traditional now.