Easy Dairy-Free Creme Brulee with #SafeEggs

Crème Brûlée, a classic dessert on restaurant menus everywhere from London to Beijing, Los Angeles to Boston, but if you’re lactose intolerant one whose deliciously elegant creaminess can wreak havoc.

Both my daughter and I are among the unfortunate ones who have had to deal with sensitivity to diary products at various times over the years.* Fortunately for us, we can indulge in most cheeses and yogurt is OK, we just have to avoid rich cream sauces and  ice cream and full cream desserts like crème brûlée. And what’s the fun in that?!

Being in the midst of the holiday baking season and spurred on by Davidson’s Safest Choice Eggs #SafeNog campaign, visions of sneaking grandma’s rum-spiked egg nog were dancing in my head. Originally, I was compelled to experiment with making a dairy-free homemade eggnog (boozy of course) but when I saw this Trader Joe’s Coconut Cream, I did a 360 and decided to create a dairy-free crème brûlée instead.

Crème brûlée calls for separating the yolks from the egg whites and it’s always best to use pasteurized eggs to avoid the risk of salmonella. Davidson’s Safest Choice® Eggs are pasteurized, so they taste great and are safe for all your favorite egg dishes. The Safest Choice™ all-natural, gentle water bath pasteurization process eliminates the risk of Salmonella in eggs without changing the nutrition or flavor. You can safely enjoy eggs prepared over easy, sunny side up, poached or soft scrambled; recipes such as Hollandaise, Caesar salad dressing and other sauces—and especially, drinks like egg nog and the hundreds of frothy cocktails that include egg whites, such as Pisco Sours, Whiskey Sours, Ramos Gin Fizz and, my favorite, the luscious Lemon Meringue Martini.

You’re probably wondering if the coconut cream imparts a strong coconut flavor – it does not. I bake with coconut oil and use coconut milk often, the coconut flavor is always very subtle. This Crème brûlée tastes very much like those made with full cream, but is lighter and slightly looser in texture and not as rich. You’re going to love it, even if you’re not lactose intolerant!

Easy Dairy-Free Creme Brulee with #SafeEggs

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

55 mins

 

You won't believe how easy it is to make this all-time favorite elegant dessert. Rich coconut cream replaces dairy so you can indulge with less guilt and no worries if you're lactose intolerant.

Author: Priscilla

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup canned full fat coconut milk or coconut cream
• 2 tablespoons honey
• pinch of sea salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 Safest Choice pasteurized egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons granulated or maple sugar
• 2 3" ramekins
• 4 cups water
• Kitchen torch

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. Line the bottom of a large baking dish with a damp kitchen towel. Pour 4 cups water into the cloth-lined pan.
3. Combine coconut cream, honey, salt, and vanilla extract over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally, 3-4 minutes, until steam rises, but DO NOT bring to a boil
4. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl and very slowly pour in the milk mixture while constantly whisking the eggs. Alternately, you can use a blender: first add the egg yolks and blend on Low speed for a few seconds. SLOWLY pour hot cream mixture very slowly through the hole in the lid of the blender into the yolks, in a very thin stream, blending constantly until all of the milk mixture is incorporated.
5. Pour the custard into ramekins. I used 3" ramekins which took 45 minutes to set. Smaller ramekins may take longer.
6. Cool until ready to serve. When ready to serve, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of sugar on top of each dessert and use the kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar and create the crispy shell we all love.

Notes

*The success of many custard recipes (crème brûlée, flan, cheesecake) depends on baking in a water bath, which allows these delicate desserts to cook more evenly and slowly. We’ve always called for adding boiling water to the roasting pan for the bath, but when we were developing our recipe for Lemon Pudding Cakes (see related content), we found that pouring cold water into the pan delivered better results: a bottom pudding layer that was gently and evenly cooked, and a top cake layer that was perfectly baked and nicely browned. (Source: Cooks Illustrated)
If you don't own a kitchen torch, you can place the ramekins under the broiler for a few seconds, but it doesn't work as well. I bought a kitchen torch at Chef Toys, but they're available on Amazon, Crate n' Barrel and other kitchenware stores.

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Do you post your kitchen capers on Instagram? Then you should totally enter your holiday #SafeNog photos in Safest Choice Eggs Instagram photo contest by using #SafeNogPhotoContest on any of your Instagram photos that are about holiday cooking, baking, prep, etc. through December 14th. The winner will be chosen via a random drawing.

This post is sponsored by Davidson’s Safest Choice® Eggs. All opinions are my own.

*The odd thing about food intolerances – which is different from having a food allergy or suffering from Crohn’s or Celiac disease) – is that it can change over the years and the severity varies by individual. With dairy intolerances many of us can tolerate certain dairy products that contain less sugar, including cheese, yogurt, and cottage cheese. The active cultures in yogurt produce some lactase enzymes to help digestion.

Lactose intolerance is extremely common – it is estimated that 30 to 50 million Americans have some degree of lactose intolerance. Certain racial and ethnic populations are more affected than others, including 50% of Hispanics; 75% of African Americans, Jews, and Native Americans; and 90% of some Asian populations. {Source: WebMD}