The Best Homemade Crème Brûlée

In a medium saucepan, heat the cream and milk until just barely simmering and immediately remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla bean paste. (See note below to use a whole vanilla bean.)

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until well combined.

Slowly ladle the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture while whisking constantly and quickly. This tempers the eggs so they don't scramble while baking in the oven. The key is to add the hot cream slowly so it doesn't "cook" the eggs and cause hard little bits of egg to form.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place an oven rack in the middle position. Heat about 4 quarts water until steaming.

Place ramekins in a baking pan with at least 2-inch sides (for flat ramekins, I use a half sheet pan; for taller ramekins, I use a 9X13-inch pan). If you want to minimize the ramekins from sliding around, you can place a thin towel in the bottom of the pan under the ramekins.

Ladle the cream mixture into 6 ramekins (about 7- to 8-ounce). If you are using flatter ramekins (4- to 5-ounce), you'll probably get about 8 ramekins-full out of this recipe.

Place the pan of filled ramekins on the oven rack and use a liquid measuring cup or pitcher to carefully pour the hot water into the pan around the ramekins (taking care not to let water splash into the ramekins) until the water comes up halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake the crème brûlée for 40 to 45 minutes for deep ramekins and 30 to 35 minutes for shallow ramekins, until the custard is set but still slightly jiggly in the center (if the edges are still jiggling, bake it a few minutes longer). Add additional time, as needed.

Carefully remove the pan from the oven so water doesn't splash into the baked crème brûlée.

Using a large, flat spatula, immediately remove the ramekins from the hot water and place on a cooling rack to cool completely (you can line the cooling rack with a towel to catch any excess moisture from the bottom and sides of the ramekins).

Once fully cooled, cover the ramekins and refrigerate until fully chilled, 6 hours or up to 3 days.

About 30 minutes before serving, remove the ramekins from the refrigerator, blot the tops dry with a paper towel, if needed. Sprinkle a tablespoon, more or less, of granulated sugar over the top of each crème brûlée and lift the ramekin, tipping it from side to side to scatter the sugar evenly across the top.

Using a kitchen torch on medium heat, run the torch slowly across the sugar. As the sugar melts, lift and turn the ramekin until all the sugar is melted and forms a caramelized, golden top.

Serve immediately, or refrigerate (uncovered) 30 to 45 minutes until ready to serve (the caramelized top can soften a bit if it refrigerates longer than an hour or so).