A classic French dessert with a Japanese twist, Green Tea Creme Brulee is a popular sweet at Japanese pastry shops. This rich matcha custard with caramelized sugar is an elegant and delicious treat made with 5 simple ingredients.
Before I talk about this delicious Green Tea Crème Brûlée recipe, I have one happy news to share with you. My recipes are being featured in the March issue of Singapore’s Food & Travel magazine!
Thank you Food & Travel for the feature! By the way, if you are curious about these featured dishes, the recipes are already on the blog: Omurice, Spaghetti Meat Sauce, Ebi Fry, Hamburger Steak, Kuri Kinton.
Now let’s move on to today’s recipe.
It was almost two years ago when I first learned about Green Tea Crème Brûlée on my friend Sissi’s site. My husband is really into crème brûlée and I’m into matcha (green tea)… so I knew I had to make this dessert for us one day. But who knew it took me 2 years to make it…
The main reason why it took me a long time is because I thought crème brûlée is difficult to make despite being told it’s easy (and it is SUPER easy!). My husband even bought me a crème brûlée kit a while back (wait, was it a sign?). The kit came with four ramekins and a kitchen blowtorch. He was more excited to use the blowtorch than me and he actually used it in Seared Tuna Sashimi (Aburi Toro) recipe.
So what triggered me to make crème brûlée this time? I just had more than enough egg yolks from making Easy Coconut Macaroons (using egg whites only). As I wanted a good crème brûlée before adding matcha (green tea), I researched crème brûlée a little bit. Most recipes online are pretty similar as the ingredients list is pretty short. I adapted Ina Garten’s crème brûlée recipe as the base and made my matcha version. This recipe is very simple yet really delicious! Hope you won’t end up waiting for 2 years like me to make this dessert!
I hope you will enjoy making this Green Tea Creme Brulee recipe! If you try it, don’t forget to share your picture on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter with #JustOneCookbook. Thank you so much for reading, and till next time!
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Green Tea Crème Brûlée
Ingredients
- 1½ cups heavy (whipping) cream
- 1½ cups whole milk
- 1 Tbsp matcha (green tea powder)
- 5 large egg yolks
- ½ cup sugar
For the Caramelized Topping
- 2 Tbsp sugar (1 tsp per serving)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 300ºF (150ºC). For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). You will need 6 ramekins that are 4 oz (120 ml) each.
- Place 1½ cups heavy (whipping) cream, 1½ cups whole milk, and 1 Tbsp matcha (green tea powder) into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Scald the mixture, stirring often, until it’s very hot to the touch but not boiled. Remove from the heat and let it cool. In the meantime, start a kettle of water on the stove.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together ½ cup sugar and 5 large egg yolks, until well blended and the mixture becomes pale yellow.
- Temper the egg and sugar mixture with the hot cream mixture, adding ½ cup at a time of the cream mixture and whisking vigorously after each addition. You don‘t want to cook the egg by pouring the milk and cream too fast.
- Place a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl and strain the mixture.
- Divide the liquid between 6 medium ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large deep baking or roasting pan.
- Carefully pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake the custard at 300ºF (150ºC) just until it is set when shaken, but still wobbly in the center, approximately 30–40 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the water bath, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (up to 3 days). If you are storing them for more than 12 hours, cover them tightly with plastic.
To Serve
- Remove the crème brûlée from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Sprinkle about 1 tsp sugar on the top of the custard in each ramekin. Tap the side of ramekin to evenly spread the sugar and discard the excess sugar.
- Melt the sugar with a kitchen blowtorch until the sugar caramelizes evenly (1½ to 2 inches away from the surface of the custard). If you don’t have a blowtorch, place the ramekins right under a broiler on the top rack for 1–3 minutes with the oven door open. You want the sugar to caramelize, but you don’t want the eggs to cook. Allow the crème brûlée to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Hi Namiko, I love your recipes! I really appreciate your meticulous instructions and detailed explanation.
My question is: can I substitute the milk with Oatly milk (original, not full fat)? That’s what I have been drinking, instead of milk. Would it change the creaminess/texture of creme brulee?
Thanks!
Natalie
Hi Natalie! Thank you for reading Nami’s post and for your kind feedback.
Nami and all of us at JOC are so happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying the recipes and everything else that we share. It means so much to us.
We haven’t tried this recipe with Oatly milk before, so we don’t know how it will turn out. Typically, some sort of thickener, such as corn starch, is required to achieve a closer texture for crème brûlée.
We hope this helps!
I had great success with this recipe using the matcha powder from Ippodo tea. The matcha creme brulees came out to be silky smooth and with good matcha flavor. Thanks for sharing this recipe. This is my second time making them in 2 weeks. I feel like guilty eating the creme brulee knowing it’s only half cream and half milk.
Hi Rosanna,
Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. We’re so glad to hear you enjoyed this Creme Brulee!
Thank you for sharing your cooking experience with us!