Tapioca Pearls, Rose Water, & Vanilla Bean Infused Cream Brulee

I am extremely stoked about this project. Tanantha is a creative, smart, inquisitive cook; she is the perfect partner for this endeavor. We took a single ingredient, Rose Water, and both made original recipes.

Please hop over and check out her unique blog, you will surly not be disappointed. My end of this bargain is over at…

I Just Love My Apron

Welcome to Tanantha Actually Cooks Saturday

Rose water is one of the ingredients I’m not familiar with. It’s new to me and I was first introduced by Lazaro. I’m not sure how it started but I think I saw it as one of the ingredients he used in his food. And here we are, presenting our rose water recipes to each other.

The creative Lazaro initiated the joint dessert post where we will post each other’s recipe on the same day. I for sure didn’t hesitate to take it on. My curiosity and excitement to experiment had gone up since we decided to give it “a go” and do it. Lazaro was kind enough to send me his rosewater infused cookies recipe to me as a guide.

The first thing I did after I purchased was to smell and taste. Now I know why it’s called rose water! It’s a rose and water mixture. Ha. It has a strong taste and smells like perfume roses. I then thought of Moroccan and Indian restaurants. Hmm.. How am I going to incorporate this into my dessert? I went online, read a cookbook, and did some research. I ended up with this cream brulee for my own version. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t exist until now (smile). Not only does rose water make it special, but also tapioca pearls I found at my favorite Asian store does too. It adds interesting texture and fun to the cream brulee. I added vanilla bean to cut down the strong taste of rose water. You can’t go wrong with vanilla in dessert!

Okay, I admit that it took me a while to find the right taste. I tried so many times that I remembered every step, ingredients, and measurements (so I finally got the right adjustment). I tried from adding rice, to cinnamon, to caramel, and then to coconut milk. I changed this, added that, and adjusted it, voila.

I have to thank my husband for being a tester. At the end, he was like “again?” “can I not?” hahaha.

I used small ramekins instead of a regular size because crème brulee is rich and fatty in general. Sorry if you’re on a diet. Using small ramekins like me is a great way to treat yourself and you won’t intake too much cholesterol. Hey, c’mon we all need dessert time in life!

I hope you try and enjoy it because it tastes good! Thanks Lazaro for another great idea.

Pearl Tapioca, rose water, and vanilla beans infused Cream Brulee
Yield: 4 small ramekins or 2 regular ramekins

Ingredients:
3 eggs yolk
14/ cup white sugar
2 tbs tapioca pearls
1 cup soy milk
¼ tsp cinnamon powder
small pinch of salt
1 cup heavy cream
½ vanilla pod
¼ tsp rose water
8 tsp raw sugar

Casserole baking tray
4 small ramekins or 2 regular ramekins
Hot water

Directions:

• To prepare tapioca pearls, heat up a small saucepan, add 1 cup of soy milk and 2 tbls tapioca, cinnamon powder and salt. Bring the milk to boil, then lower it to simmer for about 20 mins with a lid on or until cooked. When they’re cooked, they will turn clear or somewhat clear. They’re called pearls because they are white and round like pearls (see photo). The tapioca will suck all the liquid to dehydrate itself. If the liquid is dry out and tapioca isn’t cooked through, add 2tbs soy milk incremental.

• Divide equally to ramekins.

• Preheat oven to 300 F and boil water on a stove.

• Heat up another saucepan for crème brulee. Add heavy cream. Scrap off vanilla beans and add to the milk pot. I used every single thing of the bean pod so after scraping off he beans I dumped vanilla pod to the milk pot too.

• Add rose water and let it infuse under low heat for about 10 mins.

• In a meantime, whisk egg yolk with sugar until soft and smooth. It should have a light yellow color and creamy.

• Turn off the heat. Spoon out a vanilla pod. Pour the milk mixture into egg mixture slowly and gradually. Whisk well.

• Pour the mixture into tapioca pearl ramekins.

• Place them on a tray. Pour hot water in a tray until it reaches a quarter to the top of ramekins

• Place them in an oven. Bake for 45 mins until it’s set. It should be a little wobble.

• Let it cool in a roasting tray/pan. When ready to serve, sprinkle 2 tsp of raw sugar on each ramekin.

• If you have a torch, brulee it until golden brown. If you don’t, no worries. Here’s what I did. Preheat broiler to hi heat. Place prepared ramekins under a broiler for 2-3 mins. I would say check it every min because It’s burned fast!

• The raw sugar smells incredible and the tapioca pearls make a fun texture. Enjoy!