Crème Brûlée Recipe

Name: Crème Brûlée Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 770 min
Ingredients: ⅔ cup maple syrup; 10 large pastured egg yolks; 1 ⅓ cups heavy cream; ⅔ cup coconut milk ((or whole milk)); ¼ tsp sea salt; 1 tbsp vanilla extract; 3 tbsp organic brown sugar ((or more, to taste - Sucanat may be substituted, see Recipe Tips & Notes above for more info))

Heather Dessinger 30 Comments This post contains affiliate links. Click here to read my affiliate policy.

On this day **indistinct cough** years ago, I was running through an airport with my childhood crush and a wedding dress over my head. By sundown I’d left my old world behind, and within twenty-four hours I had a new last name and a marriage certificate that’s more colorful than an Olympic logo.

The ceremony was a blur – I think I was in shock that it was actually happening. But as we swung open those mahogany reception doors and laid our eyes on the feast set before us things started coming back into focus . . . cornish hen with local squash and fried plantains layered over crème brûlée . . . wine . . . laughter intermingled with blessings as the candles melted into stumps.

I’d love to tell you that all these years have been nothing but happily ever after, but that’s not how it went.

We’ve experienced job stress and stretched budgets.

Turns out we have very different communication styles.

And also, tiny humans bring light and joy but also sleepless nights and short fuses.

But let me tell you this: I have never been more convinced of the wisdom of my ten-year-old self than I am now. She saw something in the heart of the boy that eventually became her husband . . . the kind of love that keeps showing up no matter what.

As much as I’d love to hop over to the island we were married on this year, the closest we can get is a meal based on our wedding night feast. At the top of the menu – don’t judge me, I have priorities – is this crème brûlée with it’s luxurious vanilla custard, crispy caramelized sugar topping, and loads of fresh berries.

Recipe Tips & Notes

Selecting Your Sugar – With one other exception – these lemon bars which call for optional organic powdered sugar as a topping – all of my desserts exclusively use unrefined sugars like honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar and rapadura sugar.

However, coconut sugar and rapadura are much more likely to scorch in this recipe, so I use brown sugar that I keep on hand to make this sugar cookie body scrub. If you want to go with an unrefined sugar I suggest rapadura (sometimes called sucanat).

Making Your Caramelized Sugar Topping – Restaurants use a kitchen torch to evenly heat the sugar topping until it caramelizes and becomes brittle. They’re pretty inexpensive so I picked one up a few years ago, but you can use the broil setting on your oven if you don’t have one on hand.

I’ve included instructions for both methods in the recipe.

Print Pin

5 from 3 votes