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Quick Crème Brûlée Cookies Recipe

Crème Brûlée Cookies combine buttery sugar cookies, silky vanilla pastry cream, and a crackly caramelized sugar topping. This recipe brings classic French crème brûlée flavors into an elegant yet approachable cookie format.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 9 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 24 cookies
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: French-American
Calories: 210
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Pastry Cream
  • 2¼ cups whole milk
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • ⅛ tsp salt
  • 1½ tbsp vanilla bean paste
  • 3½ tbsp cornstarch
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter
Cookie Dough
  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1¼ cups granulated sugar
  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
  • ½ cup sugar for rolling
Brûlée Topping
  • ½ cup granulated sugar

Method
 

  1. Heat milk until steaming. Whisk egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cornstarch until smooth.
  2. Temper eggs with hot milk, return to heat, and cook until thickened.
  3. Remove from heat, stir in butter, strain, cover, and chill for 2 hours.
  4. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
  5. Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Chill dough 30 minutes.
  6. Preheat oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  7. Roll dough into balls, roll in sugar, and press deep indentations.
  8. Fill with 1 tsp chilled pastry cream and bake for 9 minutes.
  9. Cool completely, sprinkle sugar on top, and caramelize with a kitchen torch.

Notes

Caramelize sugar just before serving for the best crackle. Keep torch moving to avoid burning. Pastry cream must be fully chilled before filling cookies.