Ginger Peach Crème Brûlée

Pour the cream into a pot. Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into the cream along with the vanilla pod. Heat the cream on low.

Crack the eggs and separate the yolks into a bowl. To this, add sugar, salt, ground ginger and freshly grated ginger. Whisk to combine.

With a whisk, temper the egg mixture with a few ladles of hot cream. When the egg mixture is warm, add it back to the hot cream and stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spatula on low heat until cream mixture is just steamy.

Pour the mixture through a mesh strainer to strain out the vanilla pod and ginger bits.  Then pour the mixture into ramekins on a sheet pan. Place the sheet pan in a 325 °F pre-heated oven and create a water bath by pouring water into the sheet pan until it reaches 3/4 of the way up the ramekins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the custards are jiggly.

When the custards are done, take them out of the oven and let them cool for about an hour or overnight in the fridge (if you are making in advance).

In the meantime, prepare the sugar stick candy by melting the sugar in a pan on medium-low. The sugar will dissolve and eventually turn into a caramel sauce, at which time it is done.  Take a spoon of the sauce and drizzle it onto a sheet of parchment paper creating any design of your choice.  I like to make a grid-like design. Once cooled the caramel sauce will harden up and have a candy texture.

When the custards have cooled for an hour, pour a tablespoon of turbinado sugar on top and tilt it around so that there's an even layer of sugar on top.  Take a blow torch and heat the layer of sugar until it is caramelized.

Cut a peach into thin slices and use it to top the crème brûlée. Note that if peaches are not in season, you can substitute topping with bananas or any seasonal fruit of choice. Then sprinkle some more sugar on top of the peaches and torch another layer of caramelized sugar.

Finally, break off a piece of the sugar stick candy from the parchment paper and use it to garnish the crème brûlée.  Enjoy!