Recipe: Coconut Creme Brulee

Whilst reading cover-to-cover an issue of the excellent Australian magazine‘Living Vegan’ I came across this dessert recipe and thought I’d give it a go. The recipe originally featured in a cookbook called

“Vegan Cooking – Recipes for a Peaceful World” by Amanda Quinn and Diipali Lilburne.

 Now, I don’t own one of those hand held mini torches you need to melt sugar over the top of each serving, to give that golden, toffee effect, so I approach this recipe as if it were a pudding.  The results were mixed.  In regards to flavor, this recipe is on a winner. It is its texture where the problem lies. I found it too be a bit too firm. The word ‘rubbery’ comes to mind, when it was ‘creamy’ that I was hoping for.

So, the next time I give this one a go, I shall aim to perhaps reduce the amount of corn flour I use and for how long I cook it for.  Below, I have shared the original recipe (with a few minor changes) but if you feel your results are like mine, perhaps try the suggestions above next time you give it a go.

What you will need:

Quarter cup soy or rice milk

Quarter cup corn flour/starch

2 cans coconut milk

Half cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Half tsp ground ginger

Half tsp ground nutmeg

Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean (Or a drop of two of vanilla essence – that is what I used.)

Method:

Mix together soy/rice milk and corn flour/starch. Use fork and be thorough.

In a saucepan, whisk together coconut milk, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, and  heat over medium heat until boiling. Reduce heat and slowly add corn flour/starch mixture. Whisk continuously as mixture cooks and thickens. This should take no more than 5 minutes. Turn off heat and mix in vanilla.

Place into serving dishes/glasses and let cool for about 15 minutes.  Then place in refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight before serving.

If you are going to do the torching step, read on:

One hour before serving, remove from fridge. Sprinkle small amount of sugar onto each serving and give a little shake so the sugar grains spread evenly. (About 2 tsp for each dish should do.)

Hold torch 5-7 cms away from surface and melt sugar until it bubbles and turns slightly golden in colour. Move torch back and forth continuously so that brulee does not burn.  Let cool for a few minutes and then serve.