Crema Catalana is a Spanish traditional dessert often served during the Saint Joseph festivities. It is like a créme brûlée with a Spanish touch.
What is crema Catalana?
“Crema Catalana” or “crema tostada” is basically a custard cream infused with orange and cinnamon flavor. The “wow” factor of this traditional Spanish recipe is the hard caramel on top that creates a crunchy texture that contrasts the velvety custard.
This recipe is as easy as delicious. It’s a no-bake dessert that it’s made to impress.
The caramel resembles the French créme brûlée style. You just need to put 1 tsp of sugar on top of the custard and then burn it with the help of a cooking torch. The result must be a brown caramel with some dark spots.
The result is a hard crust that will make a satisfactory “crack” that unravels all that cream.
Can you make the crunchy caramel topping without a cooking torch?
Yes, in fact, this is the way that I make mine because at this moment I don’t own a cooking torch — it’s on my wishlist.
The way of achieving this beautiful hard caramel without a torch is using a stainless steel spoon.
You will also need to have a gas stove where you can heat the spoon for about 1 minute. Carefully — remember the spoon is extremely hot — place the spoon over the sugar and it will start to smoke. Quickly move it around the surface of the crema Catalana until it creates the caramel.
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do and I see you in the next one!
More Spanish Recipes
