In my family, we take Easter seriously. This means that no less than 40 eggs are boiled and painted each year, while usually only 5 or 6 people take part in our Easter breakfast. The week after Easter the leftover eggs will seem to glare at you accusingly, daring you to eat them. However, after the egg-extravaganza of Easter Sunday, you’d rather…ehm…not.

In the past, it was my task to hide the eggs in the garden for my siblings to find. It took us a few years before we realised it was smarter to count the eggs before hiding them, because we never knew exactly when we were done with the hunt. Therefore, it was entirely possible to move a wheelbarrow in, say, November, and hear the telltale *splat* of an Easter egg falling down from its hiding place. This was followed by a manic scramble to get away from the offending object as soon as possible, because that egg would resemble a stink bomb very closely. Of course, the first year we did count the eggs beforehand, we ended up with one extra egg anyway, meaning we had to screen each one to see which one looked like it had spent a year in the garden, opposed to half an hour or so. Good times.

This year I decided to try my hand at a traditional crème brulée for dessert on Easter Sunday, to use eggs in a different incarnation. And it was a very good excuse to whip out my fancy crème brulée-torch. Seeing as I like to play with fire, it was a good day all around.

For 4 crème brulées, you’ll need:

• 1 vanilla pod, sliced open
• 200 ml. cream
• 200 ml full fat milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 80 grams of sugar
• white caster sugar, to sprinkle on top
• 4 ramekins

Preheat the oven to 125 degrees Celcius. 

Heat the cream and milk, together with the vanilla pod. When it is boiling, turn the heat low and simmer for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the sugar until it resembles a thick pale cream. Remove the vanilla pod from the milk and cream, and add the mixture together with the eggs and sugar. Beat until it thickens a little. Pour the resulting mixture in the ramekins. Place the ramekins in the oven and cook for about 45-50 minutes, until the mixture is fully set. Remove from oven and let them cool. Sprinkle the crème brulée with a generous layer of sugar, and turn on your torch. Burn the top layer until the sugar caramelizes (be careful not to scorch the layer) and turns brown. The sugar will form a hard crust on top, and it is very satisfying to tap that crust with your spoon! Serve immediately. If you don’t have a fancy torch, you can also place the ramekins under a very hot grill in the oven for a few minutes.