A Tribute to Jacquelyn Williams

My sweet mother-in-law, Jackie Williams, passed away a few days ago, nine weeks to the day after my father-in-law, Gene Williams, died. We miss them both.

Jackie was kind and gentle, which led her to pursue a career in nursing. She loved the Savior, her family, and baseball. (Go D-backs!) And tenors. She loved to listen to tenors, especially George Dyer.

Jackie supported my cooking obsession. Whenever I posted a photo on social media of something I had cooked, Jackie always acknowledged my efforts, usually with a single word: “Yummy.” She regularly told me that if I opened a restaurant, she would be the first person in line. I’m glad that she liked my cooking.

For more than 20 years, I have made Christmas Eve Dinner for my family. When Gene and Jackie retired to Arizona, we invited them to join us for our holiday meal. They always came.

One year, I served crème brulee with our meal. It was her first experience with the smooth, creamy dessert. She was hooked.

After that point, whenever I asked my family for suggestions for the holiday menu, Jackie always responded, “Crème brulee.” If the proposed menu included some other dessert, Jackie would sigh, “No crème brulee?” If I made a different dessert, she would remark, “It was good, but it’s not crème brulee.”

She loved crème brulee.

Over the years, I made a number of different versions of crème brulee for our dinner: chocolate, orange, lemon (Gene loved lemons), lime, and raspberry. She loved them all.

A few weeks ago, as we were settling into our lockdown phase of life, I got an urge to make a tart and creamy blend of two of my favorite flavors, chocolate and raspberry.  Jackie liked it. I hope you do as well.

Chocolate Raspberry Crème Brulee

Adapted from The Pastry Chef’s Little Black Book

• 8 oz. chocolate (72%)
• 1 qt. heavy cream
• 8 oz. whole milk
• 1/2 vanilla bean (split & scraped)
• 4 oz. raspberry puree
• 8 egg yolks
• 10 oz. sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler and set aside.

In a saucepan, bring the cream, milk, and vanilla bean to a boil.

Stir in the melted chocolate and the raspberry puree, and bring the mixture to a scald.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt. Slowly add the hot chocolate cream into the egg yolk mixture until smooth and homogenous. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer.

Remove excess air bubbles from the top of the creme brulee custard by placing a piece of plastic wrap or paper towel on the surface and then removing.

Bake in a water bath at 275* until the custard trembles slightly when shaken (about one hour). When the custards have cooled, sprinkle them with turbinado sugar or brown sugar. Use a torch to melt the sugar to form the brulee topping.