For the dessert half of Veg Out’s first anniversary double feature, I knew I needed a sweet movie that wasn’t too saccharine.

One of my all-time favorites, “Amélie,” sprung to mind, and the pairing was easy as well, because it’s something the titular character eats in the film: crème brûlée.

This dairy-free, gluten-free recipe makes 4 servings.

Ingredients
1 cup vegan cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 egg yolks
0.5 teaspoons vanilla
0.33 cups sugar

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300°F and boil a small pot of water (we used our teapot).

In a saucepan, combine the cream and 2 tablespoons of sugar over medium heat, stirring until they are evenly mixed and just starting to bubble. Set it aside.

Put the two egg yolks and vanilla into a bowl or stand mixer until they are smooth.

Slowly pour in the warm cream and sugar mixture until a custard is formed.

Strain the custard into a bowl using a sieve.

Pour the final product evenly into 4 ramekins.

Place the ramekins in a deep oven-safe pan and pour the boiling water in so it’s halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Be careful not to get any water in them.

Loosely cover the pan with foil. Bake them at 300°F for 25-30 minutes, until the custard is set.

Chill them for 2-3 hours in the fridge.

After chilling, evenly distribute the remaining sugar across the 4 ramekins.

Turn on your torch and move it in a circular motion in the ramekins so the sugar bubbles and turns golden brown. (I will be the first to admit that I didn’t do this right the first time, so I appreciate any tips being shared in the comments.)

You can eat them as is or add some fruit like berries or tropical fruit. We had strawberry and mango slices on some of ours.

The Easy Route
This is one of our more complicated recipes, especially since it requires you to have a food torch. I do not blame you if you decide to outsource your crème brûlée for this pairing.

The Pairing
“Amélie” is one of my all-time favorites. It is a slice of life into the world of the titular character, Amélie Poulain, played impeccably by Audrey Tautou.

The film starts with catching the audience up on Amélie’s life, including a deep dive into her childhood and her formative moments.

You get caught up to present day, and the narrator (voiced by André Dussollier) promises that Amélie’s life will change in the next 48 hours.

She’s working as a waitress in a café, spying on her neighbors, having little adventures and enjoying her solitude. Sometimes she speaks to the camera, including when she talks about why she loves movies, one of my favorite sequences in the film.

The romance, the cinematography, the editing, the writing, the costumes, the set design, the score and the performances are all incredible.

The story structure really dives into the backstory and details of almost all the characters through the details I listed above. But most of all, the movie does a fantastic job of bringing Amélie’s wonderful imagination to life.

Yes, “Amélie” is a very sweet movie, but it also has some edge to it, from one character working in a sex shop to Amélie counting the number of people in Paris having an orgasm in one of the movie’s early scenes.

I just love this movie so, so much. It has been one I’ve turned to often over the last 20 years when I need something familiar to watch. After dozens of watches, it’s still fun to pick up on little details that I didn’t notice before or may have forgotten about.

If you decide to make crème brûlée and/or watch “Amélie,” let us know! Tag us in your Instagram posts & stories, tweets or TikTok videos: @veg_out_recipes

This is the second part of our double feature to celebrate our first anniversary. Check out the first part: “Freaks and Geeks” and tater tot hotdish.