Flantastic! - Mexican Flan
How does 1 post a year sound for a food blog? Bad. It sounds bad. As much as I enjoy being bad, I have not enjoyed taking so long to post. If you’re still here, thank you! As a thank you for sticking around, I offer you something sweet, easy, and delicious, Flan!
Flan is a custard with a delicate layer of caramel on top. It’s super easy to make and once you master the base recipe, you can easily make variations of the recipe. I offer you my basic Flan recipe, a chocolate variation, and an optional topping of caramelized pineapple slices.
Mexican Flan
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
¼ cup water
1 cup sugar
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups whole milk at room temperature
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Optional
Caramelized pineapple slices
Brown sugar
6 to 8 Fresh pineapple slices
Chocolate Flan
2 cinnamon sticks
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Special Equipment Needed
Large roasting pan – to fit a 9 in cake pan
9 inch cake pan
Blender
Fine strainer
Directions
Preheat oven to 325°F. Set a pot or kettle of water to boil.
While the water is boiling, combine the sugar and 1/4 cup water in medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil, swirling the pan occasionally, until the sugar turns deep amber, about 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately after the caramel has turned an amber color, pour into a 9inch cake pan and swirl to coat to the bottom. Allow it to set.
Place the sweetened condensed milk, whole milk (if making chocolate variation, don’t add the whole milk to this mixture yet), eggs, vanilla, and salt in a blender and blend for 1 minute or until thoroughly combined.
Chocolate Variation – In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, heat milk, cream, and cinnamon sticks over, until just before it starts boiling. Whisk in chocolate until dissolved. Remove cinnamon sticks and slowly pour chocolate mixture into egg mixture, whisk to combine.
Pour the flan (Basic or chocolate) mixture through a strainer over the set caramel.
Carefully set the flan in the middle of the roasting pan and move into the oven. Carefully pour hot water into the roasting pan until about halfway up the sides of the flan pan. Bake until flan is set but still a bit wiggly, about 1 hour.
Remove cake pan from roasting pan and cool. Chill in refrigerator, 3 to 4 hours. Run a knife along the flan edges and invert onto serving plate. Serve alone or accompanied with caramelized pineapple slices
Optional Pineapple Topping:
Sprinkle a spoonful of brown sugar over each pineapple slice and place under the broiler until the sugar begins to bubble and caramelize.
