Sorry for the lack of postin lately, Lucy’s been moving and I’ve been lazy. So here’s a quickie to tide you over until I finally find a recipe worth posting AND cook it without burning it. Because the point of this is to burn it!

Step One

Make oatmeal. Do it however you like. Personally, I like to boil a small handful of barley in water, then after 20 minutes add normal old-fashioned oats, vanilla, brown sugar, and milk/water and cook it ’til it’s finished. The rest of the recipe works just as well if you have an enormously complicated recipe or if you make instant oatmeal in the microwave. However, make sure that the bowl you ultimately are going to put it in is heat proof, you don’t want it to melt under the torch/broiler. Rammekins are just fine, and add to the “eating crème brûlée for breakfast” factor.

Step Two

If you make thick oatmeal, it’s best to try to flatten it and get as smooth a surface as you can. It’s not going to be glassy-smooth no matter what you do, but an uneven surface, as I discovered, leads to burnt bits of oatmeal. Once it’s (relatively) smooth, sprinkle sugar on top, making sure to coat it evenly.

Step Three

Brûlée. If you happen to have a torch laying around your kitchen, then you probably know how to use it to make crème brûlée. Do that. If you don’t have a torch, turn the broiler to high and pop your oatmeal under that. Keep an eye on it. When it has that caramel color to it, take it out. Let it sit for a little bit to make sure the sugar hardens. Enjoy!