Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I was never a fan of pumpkin pie growing up. Our first Thanksgiving after John's diagnosis we made the grave mistake of going to a pot-luck dinner. The food was terrible, even everything laced with gluten. We had assumed it would be easier for John to eat than it actually was, and I remember John thinking he could just scoop the filling out of the pumpkin pie. We decided that there were just too many crumbs to risk it, and I had frankly thought that pumpkin pie filling without the crust sounded gross. Well, if this dessert is any indication, I was sorely mistaken. Just think of this as the pumpkin pie, with the whipped cream mixed right in, and instead of some boring pastry crust, a crust of sugar right on the top. It was a big hit among my family members. The recipe comes from Bon Apetit and has modifications based only on what I had on hand, and servings.

1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2-3 egg yolks (depending on the size of them, 3 medium, or 2 large or x-large)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 brown sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
raw brown sugar for sprinkling and burning on top

Turn on full tea kettle. Preheat oven to 325. Whip pumpkin and sugars in a medium mixing bowl. Add vanilla and egg yolks. When mixed thorougly, add spice and salt. Heat cream on medium heat until just before boiling. Add gradually, whisking into the pumpkin mixture. Pour into 4 ramekins placed in roasting pan. Put in the oven, and fill the roasting pan with boiling water, until it goes about half way up the ramekins. Cover them with tin foil, and bake for 50 minutes, or until set. Chill for a few hours. When ready to serve, remove from the refrigerator and immediately sprinkle with raw brown sugar. Using a culinary torch, burn the sugar. If you don't have your own torch (which I highly reccommend getting) then you can place them on a cooking sheet under the broiler of your oven, which will also burn the sugar for you.

This is very rich, and a half of one of these four servings will be enough to fill you, but it's good enough that you can still eat a whole one yourself.