Happy Hump Day! It’s so nice to only go to work for one day and then already be half way though the week, isn’t it?! This past weekend, Amanda and Lisa came over for a day of low-carb cooking. We had lots of fun in the kitchen and the girls got to experience me squeezing around lights, a bed, and desk to take blog photos in my guest bedroom/office/studio. It was kind of nice to have two assistants to help this time around! Hubs used to help me, but it often ended in us wanting to strangle each other so I decided it was not good for our marriage, LOL!

Anyway, we wanted to have a nice little dessert and Amanda suggested we make this creme brulee. It was really easy to make and was pretty tasty considering it had no sugar. By sticking with heavy cream, it still had that smooth and creamy texture. I think next time, I might add some more vanilla for extra flavor or possibly try making this a chocolate creme brulee! Now, there was one problem. What were we going to do about the brulee topping?! I don’t know too much about this, but I have read that sugar substitutes like Splenda and Stevia won’t burn, so if any of you guys know more about this or know of a substitute that would work here, please let me know! We wanted to still have that crunch on top so we toasted some pecans in a little bit of butter. Although I love breaking that hard, sugary topping, the nuts were a great sub!

Low-Carb Creme Brulee

From The Low-Carbist

Serves 3-4*

Ingredients:

– 2 cups heavy cream

– 4 egg yolks

– 1/2 tsp. vanilla

– 2 tbs. Splenda granular or Stevia

– dash of salt

Pecan Topping:

– 1 tbs. butter, melted

– 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat just until bubbles start to form. Remove from the heat and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, salt, vanilla, and Splenda or Stevia. Gradually whisk in the cream. Strain the mixture.

3. Divide the mixture evenly amongst ramekins or creme brulee dishes. Fill a large baking dish with some water and then place the ramekins into the dish. The water bath should come up about 1/4-1/3 of the way over each ramekin. Carefully add more water if needed. Bake for 25-30 minutes until set, but slightly jiggly. Chill for 1 hour.

4. Melt the butter in a bowl and add the pecans. Toss to coat them evenly with the butter. Then, lightly toast the pecans in a pan on the stove or in the oven. Spread the pecan topping evenly over each ramekin. Chill for another 3-4 hours and then serve.

Notes:
– In regards to the serving size, I used creme brulee dishes and actually only got three servings out of this recipe. Since creme brulee dishes are not as tall, we filled them up most of the way. If you use smaller ramekins, you may be able to get four servings or of course, you can just put less of the custard in each dish.