Crema Catalana Recipe

Crema Catalana is a much lighter version of Crème Brulée, but just as delicious.

Ingredients

500 ml (16 fl oz) full-cream milk
7 tbsp caster sugar
4 egg yolks
Rind of ½ lemon
Rind of ½ small orange
1½ tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tsp vanilla flavouring (optional)
Small stick of cinnamon


Instructions

Bring the milk, citrus rinds, (vanilla) and cinnamon to the boil in a pan. Simmer very gently for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks and 3 tbsp of the sugar. Add in the cornflour (cornstarch) and whisk until smooth and lump-free.
Remove the citrus rinds and cinnamon stick from the milk. Add 3-4 tbsp of the hot milk into the egg/sugar mixture and mix well.
Pour the egg/sugar mixture back into the hot milk and whisk. Return the pan to the stove and heat very gently with stirring until the mixture thickens.
Pour the mixture into 4 ramekins or shallow dishes and place in the ‘fridge for 2 hours to chill and set.
Before serving, sprinkle 1 tbsp of sugar onto the custard and place under a very hot grill to caramelise the sugar. The sugar will harden upon cooling and remain crispy for about half an hour.

Titli's Tips
You can also add an opened vanilla pod into the milk at the beginning. Remove the pod after boiling but leave the seeds behind.

[annddc]

Oh! I'm from Catalonia and I have to say that you did very well with that, great job! Thank you Titli! Crema catalana is my favourite dessert <3

[NeroBearo]

Here in portugal we don't use Orange rind, only lemon and cinnamon. It's a very traditional recipe here, I learned it when I was 9

[Kerla]

For a moment I couldn't believe titli was doing crema catalana, wow! And just like that you uncovered that you actually have many catalans following you, it's quite a pleasant surprise! Thanks 'cause I've never learned the recipe (shame on me) and it's delicious! I have to admit that I would have prefered "from the catalan region of Spain" like you would with many other recipes in other countries.
But I'm pretty happy having this one in your channel, thanks for making cooking so easy!

[samettxxx]

Titli, im a fan, im from palestine studying abroad, and your recipes are helping me alot cause im missing my mother's cooking :) I perfected your maqloubah, butter chicken, ..and this one soon ....thanks again for such amazing videos! love the humour too lol

[TitlisBusyKitchen]

Yes you can if you wish. The flavour that the citrus gives to the dish is very delicate.

[agmonag]

really happy with you cooking spanish recipes, I hope you will cook another one soon. by the way, good look in the challenge and keep cooking.

[ferranmavo]

as a Catalan you made me so happy right now :)

[Zedd]

Brilliant! I love Crema Catalana! Thanks so much! You have a gentle voice!

[airkatmama]

Looks delish and a lot faster and easier than flan i will try this inshallah thanx titli

[TitlisBusyKitchen]

What a wonderful story! Thanks for sharing :-)

[msderocchi]

titli's hi, my name is Debora, i'm italian are the only and the one....the best of the (i'm sorry for the english) byeeee

[DaveGagaboy]

It looks amazing, it must taste amazing too!! I love this dessert, specially for the cinnamon which flavours the custard... I never used orange zest to infuse the milk, but I'm sure it will add an extra something to the final crema. I'm Catalan and I'm really happy that you made this recipe! Love your videos :D

[flavarz]

Very helpful and entertaining hahaba Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to try this!

[RecetasPOPMOMIX]

Good recipe, congrats, you´re very entertaining.

[bhakti]

Namaste auntyji! Our crema catalana story: we wanted all to try this lovely dish but we did not have the burning item nor the grill. Ahana has taken a candle and said that "this will surely work"! But we covered the dish with drip bits of the wax and it was turned blue! It was quite foolish but we all were laughing very much. The other cups we ate without burnt the top - tasting very nice my dadaji also liked very much but asked us ki "do not burn down the flat girls!" :)

[aminkeykha]

khodahafez at the end made me happy ❤️

[frotylopy]

Maybe it was the type of milk used? Never heard of that happening before. Nice recipe titli looks yummy, definitely going to try this one!!

[TitlisBusyKitchen]

Now if I had done that I would have been ridiculed for all eternity. Do try it, and let us know how it turns out :-)

[TitlisBusyKitchen]

Oh dear! It sounds like you may have boiled it a bit to hard. If you look at the video you'll see the milk is barely bubbling. You can also avoid the problem by bringing the milk gently to the boil, removing from the heat and allowing to stand (covered) for several hours.

[lindashila]

I feel like making this today, I can do it, it's easy, thank you for posting it