Lavender Crème Brûlée

Floriade, the annual  floral spectacular in Canberra,  was the perfect location Chef Claude Fremy to cook this for me.

Servings: 6
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour 5 minutes plus chilling time

Ingredients:
2 cups (500ml) cream
3 tablespoons dried lavender leaves
2 vanilla beans
6 large egg yolks
180g sugar

Caramel
100g sugar
1/3 cup water

Flower Garnish
1 tablespoon stevia (optional), finely chopped
1 tablespoon peppermint leaves, finely chopped
1 cup edible flowers e.g. pansies
1-2 tablespoons lavender syrup
½ -1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 120C. Place six shallow (2.5cm high and 10cm in diameter) crème brulee dishes or ramekins on a baking tray.
2. Place cream and lavender in a medium saucepan.  Slit vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Add to the saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat.  Remove from heat, cover and leave to infuse.
3. Whisk egg yolks and 3 tablespoons sugar together until well blended and while still whisking, strain and drizzle in one quarter of the infused cream (to temper the yolks). Pour in the rest of the liquid, mix to combine and pour it into the baking dishes.
4. Bake the crème brûlée for 40-60 minutes, or until set but still slightly wobbly in the centre. Let the crème brûlée cool until they reach room temperature. Cover each with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
5. For the caramel: place sugar and water in a medium saucepan and stir only until the sugar dissolves, cook for a few minutes until the caramel starts to turn golden. Once caramelised, drizzle onto a sheet of baking paper and make decorative shapes to place on top of the crème brulee.       Combine garnish ingredients gently.
6. To serve, sprinkle each crème brûlée evenly with one tablespoon sugar, then brown the sugar with a blowtorch until it bubbles and colours. Top with caramel decorations and flower garnish.
7. Lyndey’s Note: Temper egg yolks by adding a small amount of hot liquid to the yolks before adding the remainder. This  gently raises the temperature to  prevent the mixture from curdling.