madbaker | The Lemon Song

This week's Resolution Recipe: Baked Lemon Custard Brulée.
"This is one of the simplest, classiest treats ever to come out of my kitchen. Baking is both science and magic."
Yes, I am aware I am mixing two different Led Zeppelin songs. Squeeze my lemon...

4 lemons, scrubbed
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar, divided
4 eggses
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp (125g) lemon juice

Heat oven to 275°. Place 4 ramekins in a large high-sided baking dish. Using a veg peeler, remove peels from lemons in long strips. Place peels, cream, and about half the sugar in a ~~medium~~ small pan. Warm until simmering. Stir and remove from heat. Let infuse for 30 minutes, then discard the peels.

In a large bowl, whisk eggses and remaining sugar very well, followed by infused cream and lemon juice. ~~Strain mixture through a fine sieve.~~ Use a spoon to remove any bubbles or foam from the top of the mixture. This is important to maintain a smooth appearance!

Divide custard among ramekins (ramekin ramekin arugula). Bring a kettle of water to boil, then pour boiling water carefully into baking dish until it reaches halfway up sides of ramekins. Bake until the custards begin to set, but still have about 1" of wobble in the middle. Overbaking will lead to cracks, so it's best to start checking after 20 minutes and then every 5-10 minutes after that. (I think mine took 35 minutes?)

Remove dish from oven and transfer ramekins to a cooling rack. Cool for 1 hour, then refrigerate overnight. Just before serving, sprinkle each custard with a thin, even layer of sugar. Caramelize with a blowtorch, or under the broiler for 1-2 minutes. Allow crust to harden for 5 minutes before serving.

What worked: Excellent - these tasted like a tart lemon curd, and had a silky texture. Everybody raved about them. The sugar crunch was classic creme brulée.

I thought about microplaning the lemons instead of going through the hassle with the peels, but I realized that microplaning wouldn't give as silky a texture so I did anyway. I couldn't be arsed to sieve but the lack didn't seem to affect anything substantial. Likewise, there wasn't any foam to strain away; but several did have some bubble pockmarks after being fridged for a day. That was covered by the sugar crust though.

What didn't: I don't have a blowtorch, so the wife kept watch as they broiled. The toaster oven has a hot spot so even with rotating every minute there were a couple darker spots on the crust, but it didn't taste burned - just looked slightly less pretty.

Will I make it again? More fiddly than I generally prefer, but a good recipe to have for a showy dessert that can be done a day ahead.