These are the BEST EVER Vegan Crème Brûlée Cookies, made with only 10 ingredients! They’re soft, buttery cookies topped with a homemade vanilla pastry cream and caramelised sugar. No-egg, no-dairy, easy to make!
If you love crème brûlée, make sure to check out my Vegan Crème Brûlée Doughnuts.
What is crème brûlée?
The answer is in the name – crème (a cream filling) and brûlée (torched caramel layer). It is also known as ‘burnt cream’ or ‘Trinity’ cream. A tasty dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hardened caramelised sugar. It’s rich and creamy and has a sweet yet tangy flavour. In my recipe, I have adapted the classic crème brûlée to make these fun and unique vegan crème brûlée cookies. This recipe still contains elements from the original dessert, but made into cookies with a homemade pastry cream / vanilla custard along with a crisp caramelised coating on top. Yum!
Why you’ll love these cookies:
- They are fully vegan: Made without any animal derived ingredients!!
- They have the ultimate texture: They are chewy in texture with crispy edges and a crunchy sugar topping.
- Topped with caramelised sugar: It’s not a cream brûlée without a brûlée sugar top. It’s so so good!
- They’re topped with perfect vegan vanilla pastry cream: I can’t even tell you how scrumptious this pastry cream is. So creamy and fully of vanilla flavour. It’s hard to believe it’s homemade!
- They have the perfect flavour: The cookie dough and pastry cream is flavoured with lots of vanilla for the ultimate vanilla taste in each bite. You can even use seeds from a vanilla pod to make them even more vanilla-y.
- Easy to make: With little prep, little ingredients and minimal time, you can be making and enjoying these cookies in under an hour, start to finish!
Ingredients for vegan crème brûlée cookies:
Made with only 10 ingredients which you probably already have in your kitchen pantry, these cookies will be your new go-to over Autumn / Fall.
- Dairy-free butter: Make sure to use cold vegan block butter, cut into cubes, this makes it easier to use.
- Caster sugar : Use a fine, white caster sugar.
- Vanilla – You can use vanilla extract, or vanilla bean paste / seeds from a vanilla pod for maximum flavour.
- Dairy-free milk : Any dairy-free milk will work for this recipe, for example almond, soya, oat or cashew.
- Plain flour : Make sure to use plain / all purpose flour for this recipe.
- Baking powder : Helps to give the cookies a chewy texture and height.
- Baking soda : Helps to give the cookies a chewy texture and height.
- Cornstarch / cornflour : Thickens the pastry cream.
- Nutritional yeast : gives the pastry cream a slight ‘egg’ like flavour.
- Turmeric – Optional, but gives the pastry cream a slight beige colour.
How to make creme brûlée cookies:
You can find the full recipe, method and ingredients list in the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Cookies
Cream the butter with the sugar, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Mix into a thick cookie dough.
Scoop the mixture into balls and place on a lined baking tray. Sprinkle with sugar and bake until golden brown. Allow to cool. - Pastry cream
Mix all of the ingredients in a saucepan until thickened. Transfer into a heat proof bowl, cover with clingfilm to prevent a skin and set aside.
Pipe the pastry cream on top of each cookie. - Caramelised sugar
Sprinkle sugar over the top of the pastry cream swirls, brûlée with a kitchen torch / blow torch.
Creme brûlée cookie FAQ
How to store the cookies?
- I would highly recommend serving / eating the cookies the same day you make them. If you plan to serve them the next day, wait to top them with the pastry cream on the day you serve them. Store the sugar cookies in an airtight container. When ready to serve the cookies, pipe on the pastry cream on top and brûlée the sugar.
Can they be made gluten-free?
- YES! If you wanted to make the cookies gluten-free, make sure to use a good quality gluten-free flour blend. I personally recommend Doves Farm.
Do i need a kitchen torch / blow torch?
- YES! In order to brûlée the sugar on top of the cookie, you’ll need a blow torch. You can pick them up in most supermarkets down the kitchen isle, or on amazon. I’ve linked to the one i use here.
If you make, and love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. Thank you & happy baking! Make sure to tag me in your photos on Instagram and Facebook! And if you want to pin this recipe for later, you can use the button on the recipe card, above or below this post, or on any of the photos. Happy baking all!
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Vegan Crème Brûlée Cookies
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 8–10 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Easy Vegan Crème Brûlée Cookies – Vanilla cookies with homemade vanilla pastry cream caramelised sugar. No-egg, no-dairy only 10 ingredients.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the cookies
- 115g of dairy-free butter (cubed)
- 140g of caster sugar (plus extra for sprinkling)
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 30ml of dairy-free milk
- 210g of plain / all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
Ingredients for the pastry cream
- 35g of caster sugar
- 15g of cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon of nutritional yeast
- Pinch of turmeric
- 250ml of dairy-free milk
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract/ 1 vanilla bean pod (seeds only)
- 60g of vegan butter
Ingredients for the sugar topping
- 100g of caster sugar
Instructions
Method (cookies)
- Preheat the oven to 180°C fan and line 2 baking trays with grease proof paper.
- Add the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl or the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Whip with a hand mixer or the stand mixer until light and creamy.
- Add the vanilla and milk. Whip again until combined.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix until just combined.
- Scoop the cookie dough into 60g balls using spoons or an ice-cream scoop. Sprinkle over some sugar (optional). The amount of cookies you have depends on the size you make them.
- Place the cookies on the lined tray (leave the dough in balls, don’t press them down), leaving room in between as they will spread when baking.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 12-14 minutes, or until very lightly golden.
- Once baked, remove the trays from the oven, use a round cookie cutter to help shape the cookies. Use the cookie cutter to scoot the cookies into a circle.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray. While they’re cooling, make the pastry cream.
Method (pastry cream)
- Add all of the pasty cream ingredients into a medium sized saucepan. Heat on low / medium, constantly stirring with a heat proof spatula or wooden spoon until it thickens, approximately 3-5 minutes.
- Once thickened, transfer the cream into a heatproof bowl or container, allow to cool slightly, then cover the top with some clingfilm. Doing this will prevent the cream from forming a skin. Use immediately or chill in the fridge in a sealed container until ready to use. The cream will thicken, so you’ll want to whisk it vigorously or smooth it using an immersion blender before using. Transfer into a piping bag fitted with a round tip nozzle.
- Pipe a swirl of the pastry cream on top of each cookie.
Method (caramelised sugar)
- Sprinkle approximately 1/2 tablespoon of sugar over each cookie, coating the pastry cream. Use a kitchen torch to brûlée the sugar until it is golden brown. Yum!
- Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes after torching, then serve and enjoy!
Notes
To store: I would highly recommend serving / eating the cookies the same day you make them. If you plan to serve them the next day, wait to top them with the pastry cream on the day you serve them. Store the sugar cookies in an airtight container. When ready to serve the cookies, pipe on the pastry cream on top and brûlée the sugar.
What butter to use? My favourite vegan butter is Naturli Vegan Block and Flora Plant Alternative Butter.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12-14 minutes
- Category: cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
