Berry Brulee

• 4 cups strawberries, sliced
• 1 Tablespoon key lime juice (or lime juice, or lemon)*
• 1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier (orange-flavored liqueur)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups raspberries
• 1 cup well-chilled heavy cream
• 1/3 cup sugar (white or brown)

Combine strawberries, key lime juice, Grand Marnier, sugar, and raspberries in a bowl and stir. Marinate for at least 30 minutes but not longer than overnight (if longer than 30 minutes, chill in refrigerator).

Whip the cream to stiff peaks (it helps if you freeze the beaters and/or bowl). Spread the fruit out in ramekins and spread the cream overtop.

If using a kitchen blowtorch

Spread two thin layers of the sugar out on each ramekin just before evenly bruleeing it. It won’t get to the rich, dark stage that it would if it were spread out on custard rather than on whipped cream; for this reason it can look nicer if you use brown sugar. It’ll taste just as good with white, however. You also won’t get quite as hard a surface as with creme brulee.

If using broiler

Preheat the broiler. Just before you put the ramekins in, spreak two thin layers of the sugar out on the surface of the whipped cream. Broil 6 inches from the heat for about two minutes, or until the sugar has just melted.

This looks best if served at once, but it still tastes wonderful after spending a day or two in the refrigerator. Also, it would taste just as good if you didn’t want to brulee it, but it will have some grittiness from the sugar on top.

*Key lime juice may be purchased from the King Arthur Flour Company, my favorite source of baking materials. This recipe does work with normal lime or lemon juice, however, the key lime juice really does add a certain indefinable taste to it that uplifts it from wonderful to absolutely sublime.