Happy Halloween! I have a treat for you today. Have you ever made creme brûlée? My mom recently had the great idea to serve the rich custard at dinner parties and then pass around a little torch so everyone can burn the hard caramel on top of their dish. It’s a spectacle! Both grown-ups and kids adore it. Well, lucky for us, Karen Mordechai of Sunday Suppers has agreed to share her pumpkin-flavored recipe…

Spiced Pumpkin Crème Brûlée
By Karen Mordechai of Sunday Suppers

Serves 4

You’ll need:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
5 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 vanilla bean
3/4 cup. pumpkin purée
4 tsp superfine sugar reserved for top of brûlée

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks. Combine the cream, cinnamon stick, nutmeg and vanilla bean (de-seeded) in a saucepot, and bring to a simmer. Slowly whisk the hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture through a fine-meshed sieve. Whisk in the pumpkin purée.

Divide the mixture among four 8-oz. ramekins and place in a large baking pan. Add boiling water to fill the pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake until the custards are just set (about 30 minutes).

Transfer the ramekins to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.

Just before serving, sprinkle 1 tsp. superfine sugar evenly over the surface of each custard. Using a kitchen torch, move the flame continuously over the surface until the sugar melts and lightly browns. Serve immediately.

Delicious! Thank you so much, Karen. (And you can actually make this recipe in the holiday dinner cooking class at Sunday Suppers, if you’d like to have a wonderful evening:)

P.S. More best recipes, including chocolate chunk cookies and chocolate ice cream

(Recipe and photos by Karen Mordechai of Sunday Suppers. Thanks to Shoko for helping with this series)