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^[2]So, if you’ve read my original post about Chocolate Crème Brulée ^[3], you’ll know that I discovered this wonderful dessert at the Bonefish Grill ^[4]. It was so good, I just had to try to recreate it! I thought I did a pretty good job of coming up with a good recipe, though I don’t put in the Grand Marnier that I suspect the restaurant does. It does taste really good, but I find that an hour after eating it, I don’t feel so good. Too much dairy left me feeling bloated and lethargic.

So, when I read that Amy (of Simply Sugar & Gluten Free ^[5]) was hosting this month’s roundup for ‘Go, Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free’ with a theme of Guiltless Pleasures ^[6], I knew what I wanted to submit: A Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Chocolate Creme Brulee recipe.

So, I started re-working my recipe to use coconut milk instead of milk or cream. Creating baked recipes is never easy for me because I am always distracted or interrupted by the phone, kids, schedules, etc. That means that measurements and directions often get messed up — like when I forgot to put the vanilla in, or when I put in whole eggs, instead of separating them like I intended to do. So, a few trials and errors later, I finally got it done.

It has a rich chocolate flavor and is quite satisfying. It is not as smooth and creamy as the original recipe with cream, but this delightful dessert is definitely a guiltless pleasure for me! I haven’t submitted a recipe for ‘Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free’ before, but I am happy to present this recipe as my new Guiltless Pleasure. It’s not exactly an everyday recipe, but one that is easy to prepare, easier on the tummy, and oh so yummy.

Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Chocolate Crème Brûlée

Ingredients:

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1 (15 oz.-can) Coconut milk (Don’t use the “lite” variety.)
3.5 oz. of chocolate (I used a dark bar of 70% cocoa.); finely chopped
5 Egg yolks
1/3 Cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla

For sugar topping: 2 Tbsp sugar + 2 Tbsp brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300° F. Position oven rack in the middle.
2. Shake up a can of coconut milk. Then pour it into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. (If shaking the can of coconut milk didn’t blend the cream and liquid, be sure to whisk together until evenly blended.) Once the milk is simmering, remove it from the heat and pour in the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and blended well with the coconut milk.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Pour a small amount of the hot chocolate mixture into the yolks and thoroughly whisk together. Then, slowly whisk in the rest of the hot chocolate mixture. Continue to whisk together until smooth. (It’s important to do this slowly so you don’t cook the egg yolks with the hot chocolate mixture.)
4. Whisk in the vanilla, and set aside to cool.
5. ^[8]Place four 6-ounce ramekins ^[9] or custard cups in a baking pan. Fill the ramekins with the chocolate mixture. Then fill the baking pan with water so it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the custard is set. Carefully remove the custards from the water and cool on wire racks. Refrigerate the custards for 6 hours or overnight.
6. Preheat the broiler. In a small bowl, thoroughly combine 2 TBSP sugar with 2 TBSP brown sugar, breaking up any clumps. Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly over the tops of the custards.
7. Broil the custards 2 inches from the heat source for 2-3 minutes to melt the sugar. Watch the custards carefully so that the sugar melts and lightly caramelizes but doesn’t burn. Let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Additional Notes:

• If you have a kitchen torch ^[10], you can use that to melt the sugar instead of the broiler.
• To get the ramekins close enough to the broiler to melt the sugar, I place the ramekins on top of an upside down baking pan and place it on the top rack of the oven.

Notable Links:

• Celiac Family’s recipe for Chocolate Creme Brulee ^[3] with dairy.
• Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free hosts ‘Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free’ – Guiltless Pleasures! ^[6]
• ‘Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free’ Blog Carnival schedule ^[11] at Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried
• For more gluten-free recipes with coconut milk, visit Friday Foodie Fix at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang ^[12].