Citruslove: Gluten Free Chocolate Orange Crème Brûlée

Hello everyone! I have participated in the love bloghop event for the past few months (for more information check out last month's #cookielove event). This month we're showing our love and adoration for citrus! Here's my contribution with Gluten Free Chocolate Orange Crème Brûlées.

I want these in my mouth. Right now. All of them.

Citrus is a magical food gift from the gods. Each species of citrus fruit has its own aroma, flavor, and acidity levels. I love using fresh citrus in both savory and sweet dishes to deliver acidity to a dish, and create amazing flavor combinations. My favorite sweet application is the beautiful marriage of chocolate and orange. Infinite Yums. That's where we come to this sinfully delicious crème brûlée. 

I made this dessert this past New Year's Eve for a party, and it may be my best decision of 2011. To say this recipe was a hit is an understatement. You know a dish is a success when you lose count of the number of times that people steal someone else's dessert just to get one more guilty bite. If there's anything you try to make on this blog, make this. Believe me, you won't regret it. 

NYE one of my friends referred to this as a culinary lightsaber. 

A crème brûlée translates to "burnt cream," and is a rich custard covered in a layer of hard, caramelized sugar. (Sounds delicious right?) After cracking through the hard caramel layer of this chocolate orange crème brûlée, what lies underneath is dessert utopia. Each spoonful delivers a smooth, rich bite of decadent dark chocolate infused with the sweet, tart essence of orange zest. The textural contrast is amazing, but nothing can compare to the rich creamy marriage of dark chocolate and vibrant orange. This here is food for your soul. 

Also, who doesn't love the opportunity to pull out the blow torch? I know I do...


For those who haven't heard of the terminology "tempering eggs" before, here's a short description vital to the success of the recipe. Eggs can be very temperamental when it comes to sudden changes in temperature. If you were to dump eggs into a warm or hot pot of chocolate, you'll end up with little bits of scrambled eggs in your chocolate mix rather than a smooth, creamy solution. You resolve this by slowly bringing the eggs to temperature. By adding small amounts of a warm liquid to eggs, you'll temper them, slowly bringing them to the same temperature as your liquid. Here's a Food Network video that illustrates (http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/how-to-temper-eggs-video/85017.html). Note that in this recipe once we add the eggs to the liquid, the liquid will not be on the burner (unlike in the video where it stays over heat).

This month's #citruslove co-hosts:

A Little Bit of Everything ~ Roxana ~ @RoxanaGreenGirl

Astig Vegan ~ Richgail

Baker Street ~ Anuradha ~ @bakerstreet29

BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker

CafeTerraBlog ~ Terra ~ @CafeTerraBlog

Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess

Cakeballs, Cookies and More ~ Sue

Easily Good Eats

Elephant Eats ~ Amy

Food Wanderings ~ Shulie ~ @foodwanderings

Georgiecakes ~ Georgie ~ @georgiecakes

Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19

Mike's Baking ~ Mike ~ @mikesbaking

Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk

Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose

Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives ~ Lisa ~ @parsleynsage

Peaches and Donuts ~ Sylvia ~ @PeachesandDonut

Savoring Every Bite ~ Linda ~ @Spicegirlfla

Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem

Smart Food and Fit ~ Lisa ~ @LisaNutrition

Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood

That Skinny Chick Can Bake ~ Liz ~ @Thatskinnychick

The Art of Cooking Real Food ~ Laura ~ @TAofCRF

The More Than Occasional Baker ~ Ros ~ @bakingaddict

The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd

The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian

Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack

Vegetarian Mamma  ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma

You Made That? ~  Suzanne ~ @YouMadeThatblog

There's sure to be tons of culinary genius across all the blogs for this #citruslove event. Thank you to all the co-hosts and be sure to check out the recipe for Gluten Free Chocolate Orange  Crème Brûlées below the  bloghop.



Gluten Free Chocolate Orange Crème Brûlée

Servings: 8 4" ramekins
Prep Time: 20 minutes before baking, 5 minutes before serving
Bake Time: 35-40 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 3 hours

Ingredients:
11 egg yolks
1 quart heavy whipping cream
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 oz unsweetened Ghirardelli cocoa powder
1 oz Ghirardelli 100% cacao unsweetened chocolate
zest of 2 navel oranges
granulated sugar for caramelization

Steps
In a large bowl, add the egg yolks. Whisk the egg yolks for about 30 seconds. Set the bowl aside.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Add the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the cream is warm.

Add the cocoa powder and chocolate to the pot. Stir until the chocolate has completely melted and the cocoa powder has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool for a little bit. Once the chocolate is warm to the touch, but not hot, it is time to temper the eggs. Add about 1/4 cup of the chocolate to the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Once they are combined, add 1/2 cup of the chocolate to the eggs, whisking constantly. Once they are combined, add the rest of the chocolate to the eggs. Add the orange zest to the creme, and whisk until distributed throughout.

Pour the creme into the 8 ramekins. Place the ramekins into a rectangular pan that is about 2 inches high. Create a water bath for the ramekins that comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in a 350F oven for about 35-40 minutes, or until the cremes slightly jiggly when gently moved. Remove them from the oven, and immediately remove the ramekins from the water bath and let cool to room temperature completely. Refrigerate the cremes for 3 hours or until ready to serve.

How they appear out of the oven

Once you are ready to serve, remove the ramekins from the refrigerator. To caramelize the sugar, you have 1 of 2 options:

1. If you have a propane torch: Cover the tops of the cremes with sugar and caramelize with the propane torch until you no longer see white sugar crystals.
2. If you do not have a propane torch: Set your oven to broil. Cover the tops of the cremes with sugar. Place in the broiler and check every 10-30 seconds to make sure that the cremes do not burn. Remove them from the broiler immediately when the sugar has caramelized.