Guilt-Free Creme Brulee!

And the winner is...Creme Brulee! If you don't know which "contest" I'm referring to, check out my first post of the year here, wherein I issued a New Year's challenge for outside ideas/inspiration in selecting my first treat to bake/blog for 2012. Thank you to Elizabeth of Library Eliza's blog for the idea to try my first ever Creme Brulee recipe! Knowing me, I wanted to make it healthier (and edible, given my own lactose intolerance), so my first thought was to experiment with substituting fat-free half and half for heavy cream. Be warned, this substitution does not always work! In coffee? Sure! In pie? Sometimes! In whipped toppings? I wouldn't bet on it. Kind of like with soy products, it takes a little experimentation and taste testing before sharing such a drastic substitution goodie with friends. But I wasn't going for "tastes exactly like Creme Brulee in richness and texture"--I was more leaning toward "tastes delicious and as reminiscent of Creme Brulee as possible." This is where I believe I have succeeded.

Thank you also to Visual Recipes and CD Kitchen for giving me recipe proportions to start with (how else was I to know what temperature to set the oven on the first try?), from which I made my own adaptations into the easy and Guilt-Free Creme Brulee recipe below!

Ingredients:

5 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups fat-free half and half
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Brown sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and half and half. Add the nutmeg and continue to whisk until well-combined. (Note: to separate the egg yolks from the egg whites I pass the egg back and forth between the two halves of the egg shell until the whites have dripped off into a separate bowl.  Then later I make a healthy egg white omelet!).

2.) Pour the Creme Brulee mixture into six small ramekins (see below) that have been placed in a large roasting pan (I happened to have a collection of ramekins on hand from a children's library program similar to the one I blogged about here, only we made mini pumpkin pies as seen in the third photo here on our library's district-wide blog: hendersonlibraries.blogspot.com). To make this step even easier, I used a disposable foil roasting pan from the grocery store instead of having to dig out a true piece of heavy metal....

3.) Fill the roasting pan with hot water (tap water is fine--it doesn't have to be boiling) until the ramekins are halfway submerged. This will make a steam bath! Place the entire roasting pan in the oven and bake approximately 40 minutes, or until the tops of the Creme Brulees just begin to turn brown.

4.) Remove the roasting pan from the oven and allow the Creme Brulees to cool to room temperature before removing from the water, drying off each ramekin and placing them in the fridge. Refrigerate at least one hour (though overnight is best).

5.) Once the ramekins are chilled, place them on a sturdy baking sheet and turn on your oven's broiler. Sprinkle a thin layer of brown sugar over the tops. Move an oven rack to the highest spot it will go and place the baking sheet on that rack in order to brown the tops with the fire (if you are the fortunate owner of a kitchen torch--I am not--use that instead. I'd image it's much easier. One of my Creme Brulees did catch on fire when my non-sturdy baking sheet bent in the oven's heat and pushed the ramekin a little too close to the flames...). Serve either chilled or at room temperature.

And you're done! What a simple way to make an elegant, and (somewhat?) healthy dessert! The top might not be as hard as a traditional Creme Brulee that you have to crack (I suspect the kitchen torch might help with this), but the flavor is spot on! My addition of nutmeg also gave this treat a more wintery feel and gave the custard part of the brulee more of a "French Toast"-batter look (I tend to add cinnamon to my French Toast). Which means you could even have it for breakfast! What--that's not weird...I had one for breakfast....

So if you're really looking to try something new in 2012, look no further! You won't have to worry about breaking any resolutions here!

And one final thank you to those who read or commented on my contest idea! Now that I have inspiration, I'm ready for all the baking that 2012 brings! Including some great goodies for Valentine's Day coming up in February. If you work where I work, be warned. There is going to be chocolate.