Description
The easiest creme brulee recipe you will ever make – 15 minutes, one bowl, and no baking required! Velvety rich vanilla filling topped with a burnt sugar crust. Perfect for serving at parties.
Ingredients
- 2 8 ounce bricks of cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon milk (I used almond milk but you could use a skim cow’s milk)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons agave nectar (or sub maple syrup)
- 1/8th teaspoon salt
- Seeds from one vanilla bean (or 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste)*
- Sugar topping
- 1 to 2 teaspoons raw organic sugar for each creme brulee **
- Optional toppings for garnish
- raspberries
- fresh mint leaves
Instructions
- Whip Cream cheese: Add the room temperature cream cheese to a large mixing bowl – either use a hand mixer or a stand mixer to whip the cream cheese. Once the cream cheese has broken up a little bit add the milk, agave nectar, and salt, beat again until the cream cheese is smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Stir in the vanilla bean paste or the seeds of a vanilla bean.
- Taste: Taste the filling and adjust flavors as needed. Keep in mind that you want it to be sweet but not super sweet because we add a lot of sweetness to the dessert when we add the sugar toppig.
- Fill ramekins Divide the filling between 5 1/2 cup ramekins (keep in mind that I had some filling leftover and filled a smaller 1/4 cup ramekin – not pictured. You can just add a little extra to your 5 ramekins if you want). Smooth the filling out with the back of a spoon.
- Chill: Cover the ramekins with foil and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 48 hours (the longer the better). You can skip this step in if you’re in a hurry but it does allow the cream cheese to set up and become more custard like texture. Plus the goal is to have a cold filling.
- Torch the sugar: Just before you’re ready to serve sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar evenly over a creme brulee. Carefully use a torch or a kitchen torch to melt/slightly burn the sugar moving in a circular motion. Allow the sugar to cool for a few minutes and it will harden.Repeat this process with as many creme brulees as you are serving, you don’t want to do this too far in advance or the sugar will get soggy. (see notes for a broiler method to make the sugar crust).
- Serve: Once the sugar has hardened garnish it with a raspberry and a fresh mint leaf, if desired. Serve immediately with a spoon and enjoy that satisfying crack when you hit your spoon on the sugar topping.
Notes
*Vanilla: If you can’t get your hands on a vanilla bean than the second best choice is a vanilla bean paste (also it’s usually more affordable). I do recommend using either a vanilla bean paste or a vanilla bean over extract, I have tested this recipe with just vanilla extract and the stronger vanilla flavor from the bean/paste makes really makes these creme brulees taste like the real version made with cream and eggs. Also, it just tastes way better – so worth it. If you vanilla extract is your only option than use about 1 to 2 teaspoons.
** Sugar: I used raw organic cane sugar for the topping for this recipe. You could also use regular granulated sugar. I did try using coconut sugar because it’s what I prefer to eat, but it didn’t melt very well. This is a case where you can’t really replace the refined sugar with a healthier option. But that’s okay, because this is a once-in-a-while dessert.:)
Vegan/dairy free option: To make this recipe vegan you could try using vegan cream cheese and a non-dairy milk of your choice. I have never worked with vegan cream cheese so I can’t guarantee how the vegan ersion would turn out. If you try it let me know how it goes in the comments. 🙂
Example of how to torch the sugar: Watch this video – skip to minute 2:09.
How to make sugar crust with broiler method: Sprinkle an even layer on each creme brulee. Put them as close as you can to your broiler for 1 minute Make sure to keep your eye on the creme brulees so the sugar doesn’t burn (too much) and the filling doesn’t get too warm. Keep in mind that I haven’t tested this method with this creme brulee recipe. Also keep in mind that for the broiler method you will want to make sure the creme brulees are nicely chilled first.
This recipe makes 5 1/2 cup ramekins + 1 1/4 cup ramekin. You can easily cut the recipe in half to make 2 to 3 creme brulees depending on how many people you’re serving.
Method for recipe heavily adapted from Laura Vitale.
