The holidays are quickly approaching and you know what that means – lots of good food. Aside from pie, one dessert that always reminds me of the holidays is creme brûlée. Creme brûlée, also known as burnt cream, is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hardened caramelized sugar. However, with all of the different dietary restrictions there are today, it can be hard to know if creme brûlée is a dessert that can be served to all of your guests – specifically those with celiac disease or other gluten intolerances.
Creme brûlée is considered gluten-free. Traditional creme brûlée contains cream, vanilla, sugar, eggs and water. However, not all creme brûlée recipes are made the same. That is why it is important to check labels. The best alternatives include Wegmans Crème Brûlée Ice Cream, Jell-O Crème Brûlée Sugar-Free Rice Pudding, and Birch Benders Keto Maple Pancake Cup.
In this article, we’ll discuss the nutritional value of creme brulee, as well as other gluten-free alternatives. Let’s dig in!
Contents
Is Creme Brûlée Healthy?
Creme Brûlée contains a significant amount of fat, mostly unhealthy saturated fatty acids, which come from the cream used to make the dessert.
Eating too much saturated fat can raise LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, which can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke.
Creme brûlée also tends to have a high sugar content. Experts believe that sugar consumption is a major cause of obesity and many chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Let’s dig a little deeper into what exactly is in creme brûlée, as well as the nutritional info.
How To Make Creme Brûlée
If you are looking to impress your guests this holiday season with a delicious and comforting dessert like creme brûlée, you will need the following ingredients:
- 1 quart heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
- 1 cup vanilla sugar, divided
- 6 large egg yolks
- 2 quarts hot water
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
- Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from the heat, cover and let it sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and save for another use.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it begins to lighten in color. Add the cream a little bit at a time, stirring occasionally. Pour the liquid into 6 8-ounce ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in the oven just until the creme brûlée is set, but still trembling in the center, which is approximately 40 to 45 minutes.
- Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least two hours. However, they can be refrigerated up to three days, so you can make them in advance. Remove the creme brûlée from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Divide the remaining half a cup of vanilla sugar equally among the 6 ramekins and spread evenly on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brûlée to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Nutritional Information For Creme Brûlée
Now that we know what exactly is in creme brûlée and how to make it, let’s take a look at the nutritional information (per 1 ramekin serving):
- Calories: 687
- Total fat: 60g
- Cholesterol: 444mg
- Sodium: 54mg
- Total carbs: 30g
- Total sugars: 30g
- Protein: 8.3g
Popular Brands Of Creme Brûlée
It is no secret that the holidays can be a busy time of year. With that being said, you might not have the time to make creme brûlée yourself, or you simply might not want to make it yourself. If that is the case, but you still want to serve creme brûlée to your guests, check out some of these popular brands:
Favorite Day Creme Brûlée
This brand of frozen creme brûlée allows you to enjoy your favorite dessert with ease, simply heat and serve. It even comes with sugar to sprinkle on top. It can’t get much easier than that.
You can find this brand at your local Target.
These are the ingredients found in Favorite Day creme brûlée:
- Cream
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Egg yolks
- Rice starch
- Natural vanilla flavor
- Carrageenan
- Xanthan gum
Here is some important nutritional information to note for this brand (per 1 ramekin serving):
- Calories: 430
- Total fat: 32g
- Cholesterol: 245mg
- Sodium: 55mg
- Total carbs: 29g
- Total sugar: 29g
- Protein: 4g
Rians Creme Brûlée
This brand features the smooth, creamy texture you love with a delicious caramel crumble topping. Best of all, it is made with no preservatives, no artificial coloring, and no emulsifiers or gums.
This brand, however, is NOT gluten-free due to the wheat ingredients found in the caramel crumble topping.
These are the ingredients found in Rians creme brûlée:
- Pasteurized cow’s milk cream
- Fresh eggs
- Sugar
- Fresh egg yolk
- Natural vanilla flavoring
Here is some important nutritional information to note for this brand (per 1 ramekin serving):
- Calories: 320
- Total fat: 26g
- Cholesterol: 150mg
- Sodium: 50mg
- Total carbs: 18g
- Total sugar: 16g
- Protein: 5g
Dr. Oetker Creme Brûlée
This brand requires minimal prep, but tastes just as good as if you made it from scratch.
These are the ingredients found in Dr. Oetker creme brûlée:
- Sugar
- Corn starch
- Brown sugar
- Whey
- Egg yolks
- Nonfat milk
- Cream
- Carrageenan
- Disodium phosphate
- Artificial flavor
- Tetra sodium pyrophosphate
- Beta carotene color
- Sodium caseinate (milk)
- Soy lecithin
- BHA (a preservative)
Here is some important nutritional information to note for this brand (per 1/2 package serving):
- Calories: 100
- Total fat: 1g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
- Sodium: 90mg
- Total carbs: 23g
- Total sugars: 17g
- Protein: 0g
Alternative To Creme Brûlée
Wegmans Creme Brûlée Ice Cream
If you like the flavor of traditional creme brûlée, but are not a fan of the texture, you may want to give this creme brûlée ice cream a try. It features caramel and custard ice creams with swirls of caramelized sugar – yum!
These are the ingredients found in Wegmans Creme Brûlée ice cream:
- Cream
- Skim milk
- Buttermilk
- Liquid sugar
- Milk
- Caramelized sugar swirls (sugar, corn syrup, water, modified corn starch, natural flavor, caramel color)
- Caramel base (corn syrup, sugar, water, nonfat dry milk, butter, salt)
- Egg yolks
- French custard base (sugar, sugared egg yolk, water)
- Caramel color
Here is some important nutritional information to note for this brand (per 2/3 cup serving):
- Calories: 370
- Total fat: 21g
- Cholesterol: 140mg
- Sodium: 90mg
- Total carbs: 40g
- Total sugars: 36g
- Protein: 6g
Healthy Alternatives To Creme Brûlée
As tasty as creme brûlée is, it is definitely not the healthiest dessert for you. As a result of that, if you plan on enjoying creme brûlée a lot this holiday season, you may want to give some of these healthier alternatives a try:
Jell-O Creme Brûlée Sugar-Free Rice Pudding
These ready-to-eat rice pudding cups are gluten-free, sugar-free, egg free, soy free, and have no artificial preservatives or high fructose corn syrup.
These are the ingredients found in Jell-O Creme Brûlée Sugar-Free Rice Pudding cups:
- Water
- Rice
- Maltitol
- Cream
- Milk protein concentrate
- Contains less than 1% of: salt, calcium phosphate, sodium stearoyl lactylate (for smooth texture), carrageenan, natural and artificial flavor, caramel color, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, yellow 5, yellow 6
Here is some important nutritional information to note for this brand (per 1 cup serving):
- Calories: 70
- Total fat: 2g
- Cholesterol: 5mg
- Sodium: 170mg
- Total carbs: 12g
- Total sugars: 0g
- Protein: 2g
Birch Benders Keto Maple Pancake Cup
This quick and easy breakfast makes for the perfect sweet treat to start your day. It has all the holiday flavors you love without any of the guilt.
These are the ingredients found in Birch Benders Keto Maple Pancake Cups:
- Almond flour
- Oil powder (high oleic sunflower oil, inulin, sodium caseinate, sunflower lecithin, mixed tocopherols)
- Organic coconut flour
- Eggs
- Tigemut flour
- Leavening (monocalcium phosphate, sodium bicarbonate)
- Natural maple flavor
- Xanthan gum
- Monk fruit
Here is some important nutritional information to note for this brand (per 1 cup serving):
- Calories: 210
- Total fat: 17g
- Cholesterol: 95mg
- Sodium: 210mg
- Total carbs: 10g
- Total sugars: 3g
- Protein: 7g
Final Thoughts
Traditional creme brûlée is gluten-free. However, not all creme brûlée is made the same, so it is important to check the labels for any gluten ingredients.
While creme brûlée is a delicious dessert, it is not healthy for you. It is high in saturated fat, which can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. It is also high in sugar, which can lead to obesity, as well as many chronic health conditions including type 2 diabetes and cancer.
As a result of that, we compiled a list of healther alternatives to creme brûlée for you to try – especially if you are someone who enjoys creme brûlée on a regular basis.
Related Questions
Is Creme Brûlée Vegan?
No. Creme brûlée contains dairy products like milk, cream, and eggs. Therefore, it is not vegan-friendly.
Is Creme Brûlée Keto?
No. Creme brûlée is high in calories and carbs, and therefore should be avoided on the keto diet.
Is Creme Brûlée Paleo?
When following a paleo diet, eating traditional creme brûlée is not recommended due to the dairy and sugar. However, if you make it yourself and use coconut milk and honey in place of the dairy and sugar, it is ok.