DATE AND HONEY CREME BRULEE
Recipe by: Astons on Main, 74 Main St, Blenheim, Ph 64 3 5779797

Date Confit
100 gm dates, chopped
¼ cup water
30 gm sugar
2 Tbspn coffee liqueur or port

Place ingredients in a small pot and slowly bring to the boil. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes until dates soften. Remove from heat and leave to cool

Custard
320 ml cream
100 ml milk
3 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
85 gm Rich Native Bush Honey
¼ tspn vanilla essence

Heat cream and milk together. Whisk honey, eggs, yolks and vanilla together then whisk in the hot cream and milk.

Divide the date confit between 6 x 125 ml ramekins, pour in enough custard to just cover the dates. Mix the dates into the custard then top the ramekins up with custard. Bake au-bain-marie at 160 deg. C for 40-60 minutes until just set. Remove from water bath and allow to cool and then refrigerate.

To finish: Set a grill to a high setting, dust the top of custards with castor sugar and grill until the sugar is lightly caramelised. If necessary change the position of the custards to colour evenly. Allow to cool before eating. Alternatively a domestic blowtorch works even better. 

Serves 6