Cowboy Creme Brulee

This might seem a little fancy for the cowboy cook, but this Cowboy Crown Creme Brulee can be cooked in the house or outside in a Dutch oven. If you haven’t had this dessert before, it’s sort of like a custard and sort of like a pudding.

One of the best ingredients in this dish, which gives it a rich taste, is mascarpone. You could also substitute cream cheese for this, but I do find the mascarpone makes it creamier.

Once you get the heavy cream, mascarpone, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan you’ll cook it over medium heat. You want to cook it until the cheese gets smooth, stirring frequently so you don’t burn it.

Now y’all have been waiting for this part… the Crown Royal. This is going to give this dessert a nice woody flavor.

Add whiskey to the cream and Mascarpone.

Bring it to a boil for about a minute and then remove it from the heat. I like to let it cool about 15 minutes, because we’ll be stirring it in to eggs and we don’t want the heat to scramble them.

Slowly Pour the Cream into the Eggs

Use the yolk of three eggs and whisk them. To that, we’ll add honey and beat again until it becomes a little frothy.

Pour cream in the egg in a little stream while mixing, so it’s smooth.

We’ve got to mix the cream and eggs while we’re running the beater. Do this slowly, as I mentioned, because you don’t want anything to curdle. Just a steady little stream until it gets all incorporated.

Water Bath

Now, today we’re cooking this outside in a Dutch oven. We’re going to cook this in a water bath, but we don’t want to boil water directly in cast iron. I’m going to add hot water to a cake pan and then place that in the Dutch oven. Today I’m using a 16-inch Dutch oven and a 14-inch cake pan or insert will fit in it. If you’re doing this in the house in a conventional oven, simply use a large casserole dish.

Set the ramekins in the water bath and make sure the water goes up about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the side of the ramekins.

Make sure the water is 1/2 to 3/4 up.

If you are cooking this outside, add a good amount of coals along the bottom. One reason for heavy coals is that we’ve got an insert in there, so it can withstand some more heat. I’ll also add a heavy amount on top.

However, you want to check this because you don’t want it to come to a hard boil. A good simmer is what we’re after, so you may need to reduce or pull your heat away from the oven.

Put a heavy load of coals on the bottom and on top, but don’t let the water boil.

When they’re done, you’ll see they are spongy along the edges, but we still have that jiggle in the middle. It’ll take about 40 minutes in the house, but a Dutch oven is typically less time, so you’re looking at around 25 minutes outside.

Let them cool just a minute and then cover and stick them in the fridge for a least 3 hours, but I usually let them set overnight.

Cook them till they are set on the edges but jiggly in the middle.

Torch the Sugar on Top

This is the best part of creme brulee… the crust!

Sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar on top of each ramekin. We need to make that crispy topping so this is where a torch comes in. I’m actually using a weed burner- but the more common method is simply using a culinary torch.

You can do this under the broiler in your oven. Put them under a high broiler, leave the door open and rotate them frequently to evenly brown. It’s hard to get that even crust so I really recommend the torch.

Sprinkle some sugar on top and torch it.

There you have it! A unique way of cooking a dessert whether you’re in the house or out in Mother Nature’s kitchen!

To see this recipe in action, be sure to check out our video below.

Enjoy the Cowboy Crown Creme Brulee!