CPA: Certified Pastry Aficionado

Blueberry Crème Brûlée

dessert· Easter· Summertime Favorites· Valentine's Day

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Blueberry Crème Brûlée  – This classic French dessert takes a refreshing, summer turn with the addition of plump blueberries. It’s the perfect way to enjoy this rich dessert in the summer!

Dish of Blueberry Crème Brûlée topped with whole blueberries

Before we get into the recipe for today, let me welcome you to the new and improved Certified Pastry Aficionado blog. I am so in love with this new design and all the colors and the new logo. I hope you love it all too! Make sure you take a look at the home page to see some of my favorite new features!!

Okay now for today’s recipe!

If you haven’t noticed yet, I am a berry fiend. I love using berries in sweet recipes, savory recipes, drink recipes, you name it! By this time last year, I had already shared my recipe for blackberry doughnuts, triple berry mimosas, and my English trifle, loaded with four kinds of berries.

But I’m slacking a little so far this year, which inspired me to make today’s treat…Blueberry Crème Brûlée!

Three dishes of Blueberry Crème Brûlée Spoonful of Blueberry Crème Brûlée with top browned Spoonful Blueberry Crème Brûlée with blueberry filling

Crème brûlée is such a classic dessert that you rarely see it altered in any way. Why change up a good thing?!

I’ll tell you why – fresh blueberries!

I love the addition of fresh blueberries to this rich dessert – it’s just so refreshing and perfect for summer. I even like it slightly chilled when eating it instead of eating it warm like I do with the traditional version.

To make this crème brûlée, it’s really not much different than making a traditional version. The only additional step we have is making the blueberry sauce to layer on the bottom. The sauce and the custard remain separated during baking since their densities are different – one is much thicker than the other. So you still get the familiar flavor of the vanilla custard with a little bite of blueberry deliciousness.

Cup of blueberries Dishes of blueberry fillingDish of Blueberry Crème Brûlée with a spoonful of the creme brulee and blueberry filling

The most intimidating part of making a crème brûlée is caramelizing that sugar on top. I’ve done it both ways – with a blow torch and with my oven broiler. Both work fine, but I definitely prefer using a blow torch because it’s so much faster. But if you’re worried about working with fire, I definitely recommend the oven, instead.

In case this is your first time making crème brûlée, here are a few more tips to help you out:

  1. This dessert requires hours of chilling time so I recommend making the day before you need it and simply caramelizing the sugar on top before serving. Do not try to eat this dessert right out of the oven before chilling – it will be too runny.
  2. When baking crème brûlée, it must be baked in a hot water bath to keep it from cracking. To do this, we add the ramekins to a baking dish and fill the dish with hot water about halfway.
  3. Do not caramelize the sugar until you are ready to serve. If you place the dessert back into the refrigerator, the sugar will liquefy and no longer be crunchy.

How much do you love this blueberry crème brûlée?! The color is incredible but the flavor is even better. You’re gonna love serving this at your parties this summer!

Stay tuned for more berry recipes this summer – I’ve got a few more up my sleeve 😉

Here are all the kitchen tools and serveware that I used in today’s recipe. For each item sold below, I make a small commission. I only recommend items that I own and love so you can trust that each recommendation is tried and true. Thank you for supporting CPA!

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Blueberry Crème Brûlée
Print Recipe

Blueberry Creme Brulee

This classic French dessert takes a refreshing, summer turn with the addition of plump blueberries. It's the perfect way to enjoy this rich dessert in the summer!
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time1 min
Total Time4 hrs 21 mins
Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

For the blueberry sauce:
  • 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup sugar
For the custard:
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the sugar topping:
  • 1/4 cup superfine granulated sugar

Instructions

  • Add ingredients for blueberry sauce to a medium sauce pan. Place over medium high heat and bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until berries burst and sauce thickens. Distribute evenly among 4 6-ounce ramekins. Place into a square baking dish. set aside.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk until blended. Combine cream, milk, sugar, and salt in a medium sauce pan and heat on medium. Stir to dissolve the sugar and heat-through the mixture. Do not let it boil! Remove mixture when sugar is dissolved.
  • Add vanilla extract to milk mixture. Slowly whisk in 1/4 cup of hot milk mixture into egg yolks to heat them up without scrambling. Whisk in the remaining milk mixture. If you have any egg chunks, strain the mixture.
  • Ladle the custard mixture into the ramekins very gently so the blueberry sauce does not completely mix with the blueberry sauce. It will swirl a little but not turn completely blue. Fill the ramekins almost to the very top, leaving about 1/2 inch.
  • Boil water and pour into baking dish, creating a bath for the ramekins. Fill about halfway up the ramekins. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, until set but center still jiggles. Cook time depends on the height of your ramekins. Mine were tall so they took about 1 hour 20 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and carefully remove ramekins from hot water bath. I used a fork and a pot holder to achieve this. Let cool to room temperature and then place in refrigerator to thicken and chill, at least 4 hours.
  • Once cooled and right before serving, place about 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons of superfine sugar on top of each custard shake around to create an even layer of sugar. Torch with blow torch to caramelize the sugar. Serve immediately.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Chattavore

Pin for later:

Blueberry Crème Brûlée photo collage

More recipes you’ll love:

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Pieces of Blueberry Coffee Cake on brown paper

Chocolate Raspberry Mousse

Spoonful of Chocolate Raspberry Mousse and a raspberry

Traditional English Trifle

Traditional English Trifle layered with fruit and pudding

Comments

  2. Eileen Kelly says

    I love your tasty spin on creme brulee, the addition of the blueberries is so refreshing. I also love using the blow torch when I make any creme brulee. This is a perfect dessert for any day.

    Reply

  3. Tatiana says

    I am excited to try it now! Blueberries are in season and i am always in search for new creative ways to use it.

    Reply

  4. Michelle Blackwood says

    Wow, your creme brulee looks amazing. Blueberries are my favorite fruit so this would be such a treat.

    Reply

  6. Leslie says

    I’m not a fan of creme brulee, but I LOVE blueberries. My boyfriend loves both, so this is totally going on the list of recipes to make him!

    Reply

  7. Marisa Franca says

    We love our blueberries — we can’t wait each year until the stores are filled with them. And I have noticed you like your berries — that’s okay I do too. Your new blog “do” looks great. Modern, unfussy and the colors are great. I bet you’re thrilled.

    Reply

  13. Gloria says

    I am a blueberry FANATIC. Creme brulee is one of my top 3 favourite desserts….EVER!! This is right up my alley..and I can imagine how delicious it would taste. Printing right now.

    Reply

  16. Jyothi (Jo) says

    Creme brulee is one of those desserts I cannot resist. The twist with blueberries definitely makes it look so much more better. Drooling all over your brulee photos

    Reply

  18. christine hadden says

    We go blueberry picking every July and I end up with an over-abundance of berries. This will be a great way to use them up! I haven’t made a creme brulee in ages. Thanks for the reminder of one of my old faves!

    Reply

  19. Marysa says

    I’ve never tried making a creme brulee before. This sounds like a great combination of flavors. I would like to give this a try sometime, although I don’t have a blow torch!

    Reply

  21. Katherine says

    Your entire website makes my mouth water, but omg this blueberry creme brulee sounds divine! I’m not the biggest fan of creme brulee, but adding in blueberries is a game-changer for me! Can’t wait to try this (and I hope I can make mine look as good as yours!)

    Reply

  24. Denise says

    Wow that is so beautiful! I have just recently started loving creme brûlée and this one takes the cake! haha. I love the addition of blueberries….I didn’t realize you could add fruit like that. I can’t wait to give this a go.

    Reply

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