Equipment
6 6 oz Ramekins
1 baking dish large enough to hold all ramekins
Ingredients
6 large egg yolks
2.5 cups of heavy cream
2/3 cup of sugar
1 or 2 vanilla bean
bittersweet chocolate bar (optional)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Finely cut/shave bittersweet chocolate and place in even proportions in bottom of ramekins
Whisk egg yolks in a bowl and add 1/2 cup of sugar.
Scald cream in sauce pan until. Cut the vanilla bean length wise and scrape the seeds. Add the bean pod and seeds to the scalding cream. Stir thoroughly for 5 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean pod.
Remove cream from heat. while continually whisking slowly add the hot cream to the eggs a little at a time. (if you add the cream to quickly, you will have scrambled eggs!)
Place ramekins into a roasting pan. Pour the mixture into the 6 ramekins. Fill each ramekin with the cream/egg mix. Place the roasting pan into the oven.
With any good pouring cup, pour hot water into the roasting pan. Water should go half way up the ramekins.
Bake until the cream still jiggles (like Jell-O) but no longer ripples (like water). This normally takes about 45 minutes.  Note*Crème Brule is a soft custard so a fully set dish is not desired.
Once the crème is set, promptly remove the ramekin. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours to 3 days.
before serving, coat the top with crème with sugar and caramelize the top. Either with a hand torch or with the ovens broiler, apply heat to the ramekins until a golden/caramel brown is achieved.
Server immediately.