Maple-Pumpkin Crème Brûlée

Preheat oven to 325°.

Whisk together cream, half-and-half, pumpkin, 1/4 cup maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves in a saucepan. Warm over medium heat until steam rises.

Whisk together egg yolks, egg, 1/3 cup maple syrup, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add warm cream mixture to egg mixture a little at a time, whisking well. Once all the cream mixture has been added, strain cream-egg mixture into a measuring cup with a pour spout. Divide cream-egg mixture among six 4-oz. ovenproof ramekins. Arrange filled ramekins in a baking pan, then carefully transfer the pan to the oven. Slowly pour hot water into the pan surrounding the ramekins. Add enough water to reach half way up sides of the ramekins. Bake custards 35–45 minutes, or until set. Remove ramekins from the water bath, cool, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Chill ramekins until completely cold, preferably overnight.

Combine brown sugar and granulated sugar; spread the mixture out on a parchment-lined baking sheet. After baking the custard, turn off the oven and place the baking sheet with sugar inside the oven for an hour to dry out the sugar. Transfer sugar to a food processor; pulverize until fine. Store sugar mixture in an airtight container until ready to caramelize the custards.

To serve, blot top of custards dry with a paper towel, if needed. Sprinkle 1–2 Tbsp. sugar mixture over custard in each ramekin. Tap sides of ramekins to remove any excess sugar that's not sticking to the custards. Using a small propane torch, melt the sugar by waving the torch flame 4–8 inches from the surface of the sugar (see our video on Using a Kitchen Torch ). Heat sugar until it caramelizes and no dry sugar is visible. Let custards stand 3–5 minutes before serving.