You might have seen grapefruit brûlée pop up on the brunch menu of restaurants in the past little while. If you love the hard sugar topping of crème brûlée, this is a treat you're bound to love. This is also a tasty way to convert self-proclaimed grapefruit-haters: because grapefruit is tart and bitter by nature (which can be off-putting for some), adding a sweet caramelized top to it completely transforms the citrus into a candy-like dish.



Here's how to make your own: slice a grapefruit in half and trim off a little bit of the bottom peel so it sits nice and evenly on a cutting board. Using a paper towel, blot the cut-side of the grapefruit to remove excess moisture and make it as dry as you can. Then, sprinkle a couple teaspoons of sugar all over the cut side of the grapefruit, leaving the rind untouched. Using the back of a small spoon, even out the sugar. For extra flavour, you can add vanilla sugar instead of the regular granulated kind.

Using a blowtorch and holding flame at least 1/2 inch (1 cm) from surface, move flame back and forth over sugar until it melts, bubbles and starts to caramelize (the sweet smell of caramelizing sugar goodness will soon take over). Let the grapefruit stand for a couple minutes to let the sugar topping harden and cool before digging in.

You can also brûlée the grapefruit using  your broiler, but make sure to keep a close eye on it, as it can soon go from caramelized to burnt!

Photography by Jennifer Bartoli