Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

I've made this twice- once for Marc's birthday and once for our 4th year anniversary dinner.  So I guess you can say it's our "special occasion" dessert.  Except it's really easy and the great thing about this recipe is that it's made with low fat milk.  Most of the recipes I found were packed with tons of egg yolks and heavy cream.  We could not even tell the difference!

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee from this recipe from Cooking Light

4 large egg yolks

• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 cups 2% milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup nonfat dry milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons water

Preheat oven to 300°.

• Combine first 3 ingredients in a medium bowl.  Whisk and set aside.
• Pour milk into a medium saucepan. Add vanilla, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, and dry milk to pan. Heat mixture over medium heat to 180° or until tiny bubbles form around the edge, stirring occasionally with a whisk. Do not boil.
• Gradually add hot milk mixture to egg mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Divide milk mixture evenly among 6 (4-ounce) ramekins. Place ramekins in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Fill pan with hot water up to about an inch. Bake at 300° for 1 hour or until center barely moves. Remove ramekins from pan and cool completely. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Sprinkle the tops of ramekins with granulated sugar.  Using a torch, brown the tops.
• ***If you don't have a torch, the original recipe is as follows:  Combine 1/4 cup brown sugar and water.  Microwave at HIGH 30 seconds; stir until sugar dissolves. Pour evenly over each dessert, quickly tipping ramekins to coat tops of brûlées. (There will be a thin layer of melted sugar.) Let harden.