My original recipe did not call for enough egg yolks (5 yolks for 500 ml liquid), and I used half and half instead of cream.
On top of that, I didn't cook it long enough (only 35 minutes at 150 degrees), so -- of course I got soup after 24 hours in the fridge.
But I had seasoned the half and half with rosemary, and made rosemary sugar, so I wasn't about to give up!
Given that I needed more egg yolks, I poured the liquid from the ramekins in the fridge (skimming off the skin on top) into a saucepan and carefully reheated the liquid (being careful not to bring it to boiling, as it now has eggs in it).
I then made another egg/sugar mixture with four more egg yolks a little of the rosemary sugar, and re-added the hot liquid to this mixture and re-cooked it fresh ramekins in a hot water bath for another 60 minutes at 150 degrees until it seemed set but not overcooked.
The new mixture only filled 4 ramekins, not 5, but they seemed to be more set, though still pretty jiggly the next day. So I went ahead and sugared the tops with the rosemary sugar, broiled for 4 minutes to get the tops carmelized, and let cool.
When I broke the sugar tops, the insides were still liquid. Delicious, but liquid. Undaunted, I put them in the oven at 200 degrees so as to cook the custard. 20 minutes later, I had delicious scrambled eggs with mushy sugar coating on top.
So, even though you (like me) desperately want to believe that your crème brulee can be fixed... NO. Start over.
I think in retrospect, reading all of the recipes out there, next time I would use caster sugar, and would beat it with the egg yolks rather than whisking. I might also go for a slightly higher temperature in the oven. But save yourself some heartache. Don’t try to save a failed crème brulee.