Thursday, November 13, 2008

Filipino Pantry Leche Flan


I can never really guarantee I can cook much if company stops, but there are a few pantry baking items I keep to ensure I could whip out a nice dessert or two. Marie Ange's almost flourless chocolate cake, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies or Stephen's blondies... but my favorite decadent pantry staple is a nice leche flan.

1/3 c sugar
1/4 c water
2/3 can sweetened condensed milk (non-fat okay)
6 egg yolks
1 can evaporated milk (non-fat okay)
1 t vanilla extract

Prep.

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In a small saucepan, caramelize the sugar till golden brown. Pour sugary syrup mixture into the bottom of a small baking dish
3. Whisk the custard in this order: condensed milk, yolks, evaporated milk, vanilla
4. Pour the custard into the baking dish, passing through a strainer to collect any solids
5. Place small custard dish into 9 x 13 baking tray to prepare the water bath for the flan. Fill water bath with hot water to surround the custard half-way the height of the flan.
6. Bake for 1 hour. It'll be jiggly when removed. Remove the flan baking dish from the water bath. Cool on counter for an hour. Then chill the dessert in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight.
7. To serve, run a knife around the edges of the flan and turn over the flan onto a serving plate. Garnish with berries serve it plain. I love serving it as a base for shaved-ice desserts or spreading flan cubes on challah/brioche toast.

Notes: Eerik and Kristin held a baking olympiad recently and I had to withdraw my flan entry. I tried to improvise and replace two yolks with an egg white... not changing temp and baking time too much, it totally turned the flan into scrambled eggs.

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