Creme Brulee is one of the world’s greatest sweet treats. It’s silky smooth custard and sugar-toffee crunchy crust is ohhhh so amazing and can be ohhhh so great at ruining your waistline. This recipe for Skinny White Chocolate Creme Brulee is an amazing 277 calories per serving and just 18 grams of fat; compared to the traditional 600 calories and gazillion grams of fat. What’s that I hear, it probably tastes gross, you say? (I can hear your thoughts through cyberspace. Creepy I know…) Well it’s actually fabulous, you’d never know the difference. You can eat creme brulee guilt free! I love it!

A Skinny Makeover for Traditional Creme Brulee.

I was able to streamline this recipe by changing a few traditional ingredients, and by using a new sweetener, Lite and Sweet. It’s made with all natural sweeteners that are plant derived. It’s super low in calories and great for those who can’t eat sugar. It’s a 1:1 ratio with sugar and makes a great easy substitute. If you can’t get it, regular sugar will work just fine in this recipe too. You’ll still need to use turbinado sugar for the topping; it’s larger crystals make for a great candy crust.

Making Skinny White Chocolate Creme Brulee is simple.

This recipe starts with great vanilla beans. I recommend purchasing Beanilla beans in bulk to save your wallet. They have high quality beans and several varieties to choose from. When purchasing vanilla beans at the grocery store or market, make sure they are moist and bend without breaking, as shown above. The first time you work with a real vanilla bean is a quintessential experience for any home chef. The aroma is incredible!

The vanilla bean should be split lengthwise all the way down so the seeds (or vanilla caviar) can be scraped out with your knife. Combine removed seeds and vanilla pod with half and half, Lite and Sweet, milk and salt in a medium saucepan.

Whisk the egg yolks and cornstarch together in a separate bowl until smooth. Then whisk this mixture in with the half and half mixture. Bring to a boil and cook for about a minute to thicken the mixture. Strain the vanilla pod out and stir in the chocolate chips until melted.

Baking Skinny White Chocolate Creme Brulee is a bit more delicate.

Pour the custard into your prepared ramekins. The custard cooks best in low uniform heat. So a 300°F oven and a hot water bath, along with a towel underneath, insulate and provide even heat to cook your cute little custards perfectly. The hardest part for me is pouring the heavy saucepan full of boiling water into the roasting pan without splashing water into the ramekins. I always leave a larger space in between two ramekins for pouring in the water to help with this. It’s not a big deal if you do splash some water into them, I’m just a bit of a perfectionist. My little spaghetti arms really have to work hard to hold the heavy pan. I relegate this job to the hubby when he’s around :0)

These little custards won’t become ‘Creme Brulee’ until just before serving. That’s when you’ll sprinkle each with Turbinado sugar and use a kitchen torch to melt and caramelize the sugar right over the top of each custard.

Oh my gosh I can’t get over this color! And it’s so funny that my camera didn’t pick up the blue flame from the torch, ‘cuz it’s there, I swear! This topping is seriously what makes creme brulee so fab. That first ‘tap’ with the spoon to break through to the creamy netherworld of white chocolate vanilla custard is the best.

Oh sweet vanilla beans… aged for months to develop such amazing flavors, how I love thee…

Did you know that vanilla beans come from a type of orchid that grows in tropical rainforests? It’s an air plant that only blooms once a year and must be pollinated by hand, except for where it grows naturally in central america. The whole process of pollination, harvesting, and curing is quite labor intensive. View more about the vanilla bean here.

To create this recipe, you’ll need 6 small ramekins and a kitchen torch. Thanks be to Cooks Country for the inspiration for this recipe. I’d love to hear about your experiences with this recipe. Don’t be shy, leave me a comment below :0)