Sweet Potato Creme Brûlée

Creamy, indulgent crème brûlée gets a cinnamon-spiced spin with a dairy-free sweet potato custard and a classic torched sugar-crack shell. This easy and unique recipe is perfect for fall gatherings or Thanksgiving dessert!

SPONSORED BY BAKO SWEET

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In a holiday era that’s all about pies and casseroles, let’s embellish Thanksgiving dessert a little bit with a secretly-easy-but-seemingly-fancy spin on sweet potato pie: Sweet Potato Crème Brûlée. It’s actually much easier to make the sugar shell than it is to make a pie crust from scratch, so this is really a time saver swap. But the torched presentation will absolutely impress! With a couple of different dairy-free options for the custard base, the prettiest orange sweet potatoes blended in, and strong notes of cinnamon and vanilla this recipe is a creamy sweet-spiced dream from the first spoonful.

How To Make Sweet Potato Crème Brûlée

Beneath the sugar crust, this crème brûlée recipe is rather untraditional. It’s completely dairy-free and egg-free, both of which are typically key ingredients in a classic crème brûlée. The dairy-free substitution of either silken tofu or coconut milk is a good creamy start, but the sweet potato itself is actually a big part of the secret sauce that makes this custard so thick and creamy and set so beautifully without the need for cream or eggs.

Baking The Perfect Sweet Potato

Step one of this recipe is baking the sweet potato. Yes you could microwave it instead to save some time, but I do believe the richness of flavor and moisture of the flesh is a little bit superior if you take the time and use the oven instead. Plan for 45 minutes to 1 hour to bake, plus another 30 minutes to cool before you start preparing the custard. You can bake the sweet potato ahead of time, just refrigerate the flesh until you are ready to use.

More than how you prepare it, the best way to get a delicious sweet potato for your sweet potato crème brûlée is to choose Bako Sweet sweet potatoes. They are grown sustainably in the rich soil of Bakersfield, CA, and are the tastiest sweet potatoes I’ve ever tried. With options like organic, petite, and colorful, there are many ways to bake, cook, or enjoy them besides just in crème brûlée!

Blending and Cooking The Dairy-Free Custard

The big benefit of an egg-less custard is you don’t have to babysit anything on the stovetop, this is just a simple blender prep. The only thing you have to be careful of is not over-blending – it should be completely smooth, but if you blend too long or too high you will get unnecessary air bubbles that will bake into the custard (not ideal, not the end of the world). I find 10-15 seconds on medium speed to be plenty. Besides sweet potato, you will need:

• Silken tofu OR coconut milk. Make sure it’s not firm tofu and make sure it’s full-fat canned coconut milk. Both turn out creamy and delicious, I really couldn’t pick a favorite. The silken tofu does add a little more protein, but it’s minimal. And the coconut milk does eliminate the need for the 1/4 cup of almond milk. Other than that, pick what you have or like.
• Coconut sugar. Cane sugar or brown sugar would be fine too, I personally love the rich flavor of coconut sugar paired with the sweet potato and cinnamon flavors.
• Tapioca starch. Corn starch is fine as well, or arrowroot. This helps the custard thicken and set without eggs as well.
• Almond milk. Only use for the silken tofu option, and yes any kind of non-dairy milk is fine.
• Cinnamon and vanilla extract. Both add so much flavor to this simple creamy dessert.

To get the most even bake without any risk of a too-gooey unbaked middle, you do need to bake the custards in a water bath. Four ramekins fit perfectly in a 9″ square cake pan, and the sides are high enough to easily fill halfway with boiling water and not risk too much sloshing when moving in/out of the oven. About 35 minutes later you will have gorgeously golden baked custards, ready to cool before being brûléed.

Creating The Signature Sugar Crust

The last and most fun step! About one teaspoon of cane sugar (don’t try it with coconut sugar!) per ramekin creates a thin layer that covers the custard completely. Dump off any extra, you don’t want too thick a layer of sugar anywhere or it won’t crystalize properly. The best flame option if obviously a culinary blow torch, this is the one I used. But if you don’t have one, you can broil in your oven as close to the flame as possible for 4-5 minutes. But you do have to watch them very carefully, they can burn FAST.

Serving and Garnishing Suggestions

These creme brûlées do need to be served pretty quick after torching. If you wait too long the hard sugar crust will start to liquify and lose all of its crackle. Within 30 minutes is recommended, although I personally prefer to dig in while the top is still warm. They are wonderful just plain, the textural contrast of crispy crackly and creamy underneath is everything you need. But a dollop of whipped cream, a sprinkling of pecans, a few fresh raspberries – all delicious additions.

More Sweet Potato Recipes You’ll Love

• Grain-Free Sweet Potato Waffles
• Vegan Sweet Potato Brownies
• Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie
• Sweet Potato Chocolate Mousse Cake

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