Pumpkin Crème Brûlée With Fresh Ginger And Cinnamon - pumpkin puree

Method

• Preheat oven to 300°F.
• Place the pumpkin puree, ginger and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Whisk until well blended. Set aside.
• Heat the cream and milk in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. When the liquid has reached boiling point remove from heat and set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the egg yolks, sugar and salt at high speed, until the mixture is very pale and ribbony, about 2 minutes. Reduce to low speed and slowly whisk the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk until well blended. Skim the air bubbles off the top with a mesh spatula.
• Pour the custard into the molds, filling them 1/4" from rim. Place the ramequins in a large baking pan and pour enough hot water in the pan to reach about 1/2? up the side of the ramequins. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The custards should be barely set and wobble when gently shaken. Do not overcook or the creme brulee will curdle (it would look like scrambled eggs... and if this should happen, unfortunately you'll have to make a new batch!). Carefully remove the pan from the oven, transfer custards to a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate the custards for at least 4 hours.
• Cook's note: The custards can be prepared up to this point and refrigerated for up to 2 days.
• Sprinkle each custard with a little sugar. Hold a lit kitchen torch 4 inches from the sugar topping and move the flame evenly over the surface until a caramel crust has formed. Return to the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes before serving. (If the caramel crust is refrigerated for too long, it becomes soggy and loses its crunch!)