Joe Allen’s Pumpkin Crème Brûlée

You'll love this delicious recipe provided by Joe Allen restaurant, where spiced pumpkin puree is topped by a creamy custard, and topped with a delicious burnt sugar topping. It's the perfect dessert for autumn entertaining.

15 minutes prep, 45 minutes cook

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the spiced pumpkin puree:

500gms peeled pumpkin pieces

50g honey

½ stick cinnamon (or a pinch of cinnamon powder)

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp mixed spice

½ tsp ground ginger

100g butter (unsalted)

For the brûlée

1 x Litre double cream

200g caster sugar

250g egg yolks

2 vanilla pods, seeds scraped out

Method

Mix the spices for the pumpkin and mix in with the pieces in a bowl, ensuring it's evenly coated. Lightly soften the butter and add to the pumpkin mix, along with the honey.

Wrap in foil and bake in the oven until the pumpkin is soft and cooked through. This should take around 45 minutes to an hour (depending on size of pumpkin) Bake at around 180◦C. When soft & cooked, blend until smooth. Set aside.

Bring the cream and vanilla to the boil, meanwhile mix the sugar into the egg yolks. Leave the cream to infuse for 20 minutes off the heat. Combine the two & pass through a fine sieve.

When the mix has cooled, set aside brûlée dishes and place a dessert spoonful of the puree in each bowl. Pour the brûlée mix on top and bake at 100ºc until just set (about 45-55 minutes).

Sprinkle a generous amount of either demerara sugar or caster sugar – whatever your preference and using a brûlée burner caramelise the top of the brûlée (if you do not have a small burner then place under a hot grill until the sugar caramelises, leave to cool before serving).