Torch Yr Own: Vegan Crème Brûlée

Burning your own dessert with a butane torch is not only exciting, it is an interactive way to spark up a holiday potluck! After committing to this dessert some time ago and purchasing all the special supplies {10 ramekins, butane torch, butane, arrowroot, fruit sugar, etc}, it was time to bring it on. Despite my waning health, I needed to cross vegan crème brûlée off my list.

I used Vegan Visitor‘s recipe here. After a slight drain, two packages of silken tofu ready for processing. The blended tofu, fructose, soy milk, vanilla and arrowroot are divided among the ramekins. They cooked in a bath of boiling water in the oven till flubbly [below].

They take some care going in and out of the oven and a level kitchen. This recipe would be a disaster if made at my apartment on my kitchen’s slope. It was time for them to just chill.

Practicing with the torch. Darn child-proof button.

Flash forward to T&A‘s holiday potluck! A gorgeous salad by Em, potatoes and gravy by CandyPenny, sausage and peppers and tofu casserole by T&A, stuffed mushrooms by D. Wow. Feeling the beginnings of what would turn into a butt-crippling flu, I barely had the appetite to eat a bite. On to dessert!

CandyPenny wo-mans the torch, burning the granulated sugar to the dessert’s characteristic crunchy top. Everyone’s top was unique. I realized I hadn’t been putting enough sugar on the custards’ tops. The more sugar, the more sizzzzle!

Whap! Cracking the crème brûlée top.

TimX, less apprehensive with holding a torch, created a deep sienna top.

Here’s to another year gone by with my girls! And to many more years of food memories!