Creamy Creme Brulee - good enough for when Grandma comes for dinner!

I've been wanting to try making creme brulee for a long time - but the instructions seemed daunting and I knew that the sugar hit I'd take from the sampling would be highly unfortunate. But this was my year....this year I wanted to make it for Christmas Eve dinner in a way that I wouldn't go completely off my nutrition track but that would be delicious for the whole family. Typically, at restaurants Creme Brulee will run you around 550-600 calories and a whopping 40-50g of fat, but this recipe? 195 calories! Plus it's inexpensive to make, and the pre-portioned cups make it easy to stick with 'one portion'. Finally my dream has come true. I adapted a recipe from Eating Well and found the perfect recipe for me. Don't let the multi-steps fool you - while you have to make this recipe ahead of time, other than 'chilling' time it actually isn't very time consuming. Plus, because you have to make it the day before you want to serve it, it's a great Christmas option so you have one less thing to worry about on the actual 'day'.

Creamy Creme Brulee
serves 6

Ingredients:

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 1/2 cups 2% milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons packed splenda brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Boil a full kettle of water. Line a roasting pan with a folded kitchen towel. Place six 6-ounce (3/4-cup) ramekins (or custard cups) in the roasting pan.

2. Whisk egg yolks, condensed milk and cornstarch in a bowl until smooth. Heat milk in the microwave (or stovetop if you prefer) until hot. Gently whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture. Stir in vanilla. Using a spoon scoop off excess foam/air bubbles.

3. Divide the custard among ramekins. Skim any remaining foam bubbles. Pour enough boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

4. Bake custards on middle rack until edges are set but are still not completely firm all the way through, 40 to 50 minutes. Remove from water; let cool and then cover and refrigerate until chilled, for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

5) About 1 hour before serving, preheat the broiler. Place the chilled custards in a roasting pan or shallow baking dish and surround with ice cubes. Using a paper towel, pat surfaces of custards dry. Sprinkle each evenly with 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Broil until sugar has melted and formed a crust, 4 to 8 minutes. Refrigerate, uncovered, until chilled, for about 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.

Calories: 195, fat 7g, 29g carb, 7g protein