Easy coconut crème brulee

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Boil a pan of water, keep it on simmer.

2. In a small saucepan, stir cream, coconut milk, extract, cinnamon and salt. Stirring constantly, warm on medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Remove from heat and cool for 15 minutes.

3. In a heat-proof glass bowl, beat egg yolks and ½ cup sugar until the mixture is creamy and pale yellow.

4. Temper the yolk mixture by adding a spoonful of the heated cream into the eggs. Stir gently, repeat with a second spoonful. Tempering slowly raises the temperature of the eggs and prevents the hot liquid from cooking and scrambling the whisked eggs. Once the egg mixture is warm, add the rest of the heated cream and stir to incorporate.

5. Divide the mixture evenly into 4, 5-ounce ramekins or brulee dishes.

6. Position the ramekins in a baking pan with deep sides and place the dish into the oven. Pour the heated water into the baking dish, about half-way up the sides of the ramekins. Be careful not to splash water into the ramekins. Loosely cover the dish with foil. Pouring the water into the baking dish after it’s placed into the oven decreases the likelihood of accidentally sloshing water into the custard.

7. Bake approximately 50 minutes or until the custard is set

8. Remove from oven and allow time to cool until the dishes are safe to move to a wire rack. Once completely cooled, cover individual dishes with plastic and refrigerate them overnight.

9. Before serving, sprinkle a generous amount of granulated sugar on top of the custard. Melt the sugar with a kitchen torch until the sugar hardens slightly caramelizes. Top with a teaspoon or so of shredded coconut.