Kisses Arent Contracts: Guilt Free Soy Lavender Creme Brulee

I've written on my blog before about my disdain for milk. The added hormones, antibiotics, and the cruelty of the meat industry really takes and enjoyment out of eating creamy dairy filled foods.

One of foods I miss the most since i've steered clear of milk products is dessert, in particular creme brulee. So, the other night I decided to give SOY creme brulee a try. To my surprise, my recipe turned out DELICIOUS & guilt free. Not only are you cutting out the hormones & antibiotics from this yummy dessert, you're cutting out almost 400 calories per serving, just by switching a creme brulee recipe from heavy cream to light vanilla soy milk! WOW.

I also added culinary lavender to the recipe to give it a little something extra & because I LOVE the taste of lavender, but this is completely optional. You can order culinary lavender here.

Here's the recipe:

2 cups light vanilla soy milk
3 tablespoons dried lavender intended for cooking
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar ("sugar in the raw")

In a small saucepan, soy milk to a boil, monitoring it closely so it doesn't boil over. Remove from the heat. Add lavender, and allow lavender to infuse the soy milk for 30 min to one hour at room temperature. Strain mixture into a clean saucepan. Bring to a boil again and remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 300°F. In a mixing bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar until just combined. Temper the egg mixture by very slowly whisking a small amount of warm lavender soy milk into the eggs. Take your time with this step so that the yolks don't scramble. Once the egg mixture and soy are roughly the same temperature, whisk the remaining egg mixture into the soy milk.

Divide custard among four 4-ounce ramekins. Place ramekins in a baking dish or roasting pan. Fill dish or pan with water so that water comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins and transfer to the oven rack. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. During the last 10 minutes, check frequently for doneness: when fully baked, the crème brûlées will be firm and will wiggle just slightly when shaken. Remove ramekins from water bath and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours.

* I noticed that the soy milk (because it's not as thick as cream) took a little longer than traditional creme brulees to harden. Usually creme brulees only take about 25-35 minutes, to closely monitor your creme brulees but don't worry if you feel like it's taking a bit longer for them to firm.

Before serving, sprinkle each dessert with 1 1/2 tablespoons turbinado sugar. If you own a propane torch, hold the torch about 8 inches from the custard's surface and flame the sugar into a golden brown, brittle curst. Alternatively, place ramekins under a preheated broiler and broil until sugar has caramelized, 1 to 3 minutes. Watch carefully: sugar turns from light brown to black quickly. Serve immediately.