Crème brûlée

Preparing the crème brûlée -- 10 minutes

CUT the vanilla pod in half and remove the marrow. HEAT the milk, cream, vanilla pod and marrow in the small saucepan on medium-low heat. Meanwhile, mix the egg yolks and sugar until very fluffy and white.

The mixing will take about 4 to 5 minutes. REMOVE the vanilla pod from the warm milk and cream, pour it slowly into the beaten egg yolks. Not at all once, just a little at a time while it's mixing. If you add the hot milk too fast, the egg yolks will set and will create lumps.

PRE-HEAT the oven to 140 degrees Celsius or 285 degrees Fahrenheit. DIVIDE the mixture over the ramekins. PLACE the ramekins in the oven dish and fill it with hot water to create a bain-marie bath.

The water should be about 1 to 2 cm under the edge of the ramekins. 

Finishing the crème brûlée -- 40 minutes + waiting time

PLACE the oven dish with the water and ramekins carefully in the middle of a pre-heated oven. COOK them for about 40 minutes. They are ready when they're kind of wobble just like a jelly.

REMOVE from the water and set in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or until completely cooled off. ADD cane sugar on top of the custard and burn it carefully until the sugar caramelizes.

Tip: Don't add sugar to all of the ramekins at once. The sugar will get wet by absorbing the custard, so when you light in on fire, it will turn black in a few seconds instead.