Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I know pumpkin has generally been an autumn food, but I just love it so much!  I made a pumpkin black bean soup the other day (super delicious and one of my regular favorites...I didn't take any pictures so I will have to make it again before I can post it, but I'm sure that will be coming along down the line sometime) and had some pumpkin left over so I decided to make this creme brulee.  It's a fun variation on an already fun dessert, so how can you lose?

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

Number of Servings: 6
Time to Prepare: 3 hours 45 minutes

• 2 cups heavy cream 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar, plus more for topping
• 8 large egg yolks  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (I had slightly less than 1 cup this time and it still worked fine)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Arrange 6 (8 oz) ramekins or custard cups in a large metal baking pan.

In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup white sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until frothy and lemon-colored. Slowly add 3/4 cup of the hot cream mixture, whisking constantly. Add the egg mixture to the remaining hot cream, and whisk.  Add the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and pumpkin, and whisk until smooth.  Divide among the prepared custard cups.

Add enough hot water to come about 1 inch up the sides of the cups. Bake until the custards are just set in the center but not stiff, about 1 hour 10 minutes.  (Could take a little more or less time depending on how full the custard cups are and how deep your water bath is.)  Remove from the oven, take out of the water bath, and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours or overnight.

Sprinkle each custard with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of white sugar. Using a kitchen torch, caramelize the sugar. (Alternately, preheat the broiler, and broil until the sugar melts and caramelizes, watching closely to avoid burning and rotating the cups, about 1 to 2 minutes.)

Source: slightly adapted from Emerils.com