Vegan Crème Brûlée

"burnt cream"...Julia doesn't give an english translation for this one...

...this is the 611th and very last final recipe for this blog...

...and I thought it was funny that this very last recipe is a bit odd...Julia gives two entirely different descriptions in the two versions of the book that I have...

...in the 1964 version...

...which describes itself as the sixth printing...reprinted four times...which somehow doesn't add up for me...haha...

...anywhoo...this is the description of Crème Brûlée...

..."Although many people think of it as a French dessert, Crème Brûlée is actually Creole. Make the basic cream exactly like the preceding creme anglaise, but use half the amount of sugar, and whipping cream instead of milk..."

...and then in my 40th anniversary edition from 2009...

...the origin description is completely different...

..."Crème Brûlée originated in England, it appears, at Christ's College in Cambridge..."

...the "it appears" is telling and kind of funny...but she doesn't mention the previous version at all...

...and then wikipedia says this..."The earliest known recipe of a dessert called crème brûlée appears in François Massialot's 1691 cookbook Cuisinier royal et bourgeois, but its ultimate origins are unclear."

...and then there's no recipe really at all... in either version...she just goes on to say...

..." Rather than glazing the top of the cream with brown sugar, try spreading a 1/8 inch layer of pralin, page 583, over the cream. This would then be a Crème anglaise pralinée, and is good as a dessert either by itself or served with strawberries."

...of course you need to make the VEGAN CRÈME ANGLAISE...

...and pour that into ramekins...

...and you need to make a Pralin...and Julia gives you several options for pulverising it...I just used my trusty Pampered Chef chopper thingy...

...so I sprinkled brown sugar on top of one ramekin and the Pralin on the other...I won't be broiling the pralinéed one...

...and pop it under the broiler until it bubbles...I was kind of surprised that she says to use brown sugar...as broiling regular sugar would carmelize it...

...and indeed the topping was very dark...but I gave it a whack with the back of my spoon...

. ...and it made a satisfying crack...

...it's really delicious though...the crunchy slightly burnt sugar is delicious with the vegan cream...

...and the pralinéed one was really good too...

Substitutions

...you'll need all of the subs for the VEGAN CRÈME ANGLAISE

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking...pp. 588-590