I love Creme Caramel and seriously considered making it for this month's Sugar High Friday, as hosted by Debbie. It just seemed a little pedestrian and obvious; I was therefore delighted when I stumbled across Flan, the Mexican version of Creme Caramel.
Like creme caramel, there are hundreds of recipes for Flan online. I ended up picking a recipe from Cooking Light and adapting it to a high-fat version. I wonder if I'll go to hell for that? In fairness to CL, I did try out their low-fat dulce du leche--it worked but didn't taste very nice, so I whipped out a can of full-fat condensed milk and made the real stuff. According to some of the recipes I've read online, a lot of Mexican's make their Flan using condensed milk, but caramelising it to form dulce du leche seems to be unique to CL's recipe.
The texture of the flan was superb--silky smooth, rich and dense--with the dulce du leche contributing bags of flavour and much of the denseness of the texture. Don't let the bubbly edge in the picture put you off; inside the flan is amazingly smooth and a beautiful deep amber. I'll definitely be making this again. Once the dulce du leche is made, it's a snap to put together.
Thanks for hosting, Debbie, and coming up with such a great theme! I had fun.
Dulce du Leche Flan
Adapted from Cooking Light
14oz (405g) can of condensed milk
100g sugar
60ml water
500ml semi-skimmed milk
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8x8" square tin, or a 9" round tin (6 cup capacity)
Place unopened can of condensed milk in a pan deep enough to hold it upright, fully covered in water. Cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for three hours. Top up with boiling water as necessary--the can should never be exposed to the air, otherwise you risk the can exploding. Don't nap, get engrossed in a film, or otherwise abandon the can. Drain the hot water away and leave the can to cool overnight. If you want to make the flan on the same day, you can leave the can under cold running water until very cold.
Preheat the oven to 325F/Gas Mark 3.
Place sugar and water in a small pan. Bring to the boil, stirring, then leave alone whilst it caramelises. When a rich dark brown, remove from the heat and pour over the base of the pan. Swirl around to cover the entire base and partially up the sides. Place the prepared tin in a slightly larger roasting tin.
Scoop the dulce du leche from the can into a 1L wide-necked jug. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks one at a time. I used a small egg-whisk. Swipe around the sides and base of the jug with a spatula to ensure that all the dulce du leche is amalgamated. This gets easier after each addition of egg. It will all come together.
Beat in the vanilla extract and slowly pour in the milk, whisking well. Strain the mixture into the tin through a fine sieve, discard solids. Pour just-boiled water around the filled tin and carefully put into the oven.
Bake for 40 minutes then check the flan. If a thin knife inserted in the centre comes out clean then it is done. Otherwise, keep baking in 10 minute increments. Remove the flan from the roasting tin and leave to cool. Cover and chill for at least three hours, or overnight.
To serve: run a thin bladed knife around the side of the tin, going all the way down to the base. Place an appropiately sized plate on top and invert over the sink. The flan should fall away easily, with the caramel falling around it as a sauce. Cut into squares or long triangles to serve.
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