Low Fat Creme Brulee

Posted by suanne Published in 2007, Dessert

A Creme Brulee is a custard topped with a thin layer of melted sugar. The melted sugar provides a delightful contrast in textures - the silky, smooth custard against the crackle of the sugar candy top. A traditional creme brulee is a mixture of eggs and cream cooked until the proteins in the eggs coagulate.

This Low Fat Creme Brulee is made from milk, egg substitutes and reduced sugar which brings less guilt when we indulge in this deliciously rich dessert. But yet, it still maintains the silky smooth custard texture that we love.

Ingredients

1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
2 cups 2% milk
1 cup low fat egg substitute
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar for topping

Click on the link below for the instructions.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325F.

If you are using vanilla bean, cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and use a knife to scr5ape out all the seed. Set aside.In a bowl, combine the milk, vanilla bean seeds or extract, egg substitute and granulated sugar.Beat well.

Pour the mixture through a sieve and strain well into a large measuring cup. This is to remove foam and any lumpy bits.

Pour the custard mixture into six 4-ounce broiler safe ramekins or custard dishes. We used aluminum muffin tins here so that we can cut them up to take home to refrigerate.

Place the custard dishes in a 13×9 inch pan. Carefully pour boiling water into the pan until halfway up the sides of the dishes. The hot water bath baking method cooks the custard gently and evenly.

Bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until the custard centers are set but soft in the middle. If a knife inserted comes out not clean, then its not ready yet.

Remove from the oven and allow the custard to cool.Place in the refrigerator and chill well, or even better, overnight.

Due to the refrigeration factor, Karen had made a batch a day earlier.

Karen demonstrated to us the method of melting the sugar with a torch instead of using the broiler method as the kitchen oven does not have a broiler.This is a kitchen torch (specifically creme brulee torch) which can be bought from places which sells kitchen gadgets. This torch is fueled by butane which has a smaller flame.

Place one or two teaspoons of sugar on the custard, spread out evenly and make sure the sugar covers all the custard surface.You may use granulated or brown sugar. I tell you why we prefer to use granulated later.

This creme brulee torch is good in a sense that it has a security feature which requires both hands to start the flame. It also has a switch to allow the flame to continue to burn.

Remember to move the flame around so that the sugar is melted evenly. It takes 5 to 10 minutes to melt the sugar using this butane torch.

This is the comparison using brown (on the left) and granulated (on the right) sugar. The brown sugar burns easily.We found that the brown sugar burns easily. So, we recommend using granulated sugar.