Flan, also known as créme caramel, is deceptively hard to make but a crowd-pleaser for everyone! This has been a request for such a long time and I finally convinced myself to make some. Flan is a European and Latin dessert incorporating caramel and custard, aka it’s super delicious. There’s not too many ingredients involved and it’s sure to be a hit for any kind of party or potluck!
Flan
Ingredients
Caramel
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 1/4 cup filtered water (50g)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Custard
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 6 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)
- 4 1/4 cups whole milk (1000g)
Instructions
- First, make the caramel. Add the sugar and water to a medium pot and place over medium heat, with the lid on. The caramel will start bubbling and turning golden around the edges. When this happens, remove from the heat and gently swirl the pot around, helping the caramel to heat slowly and evenly. Continue this heat on/off process as the caramel gets darker and darker. Your preferred color will vary; I like a very dark amber caramel for flan. However you like your caramel, make sure you take it off the heat before you get it where you want, as it will continue to cook and darken off the heat, and it can be easy to overshoot your goal! If you need to, you can place the pot in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.
- When the caramel is done, add the vanilla and gently stir it in with a rubber spatula. The caramel will rapidly start setting at this point, so working quickly, evenly divide the caramel between 4 ramekins, making sure to coat the entire bottom of the ramekin in a thin layer. If it's set too much and you can't get it perfectly coating the bottom of the ramekin, that's ok, it'll still turn out so long as it's mostly coating the bottom.
- Set the ramekins aside and preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Prepare the custard. In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, eggs, and egg yolks and whisk until completely smooth. Add the milk and optionally the vanilla and whisk until completely combined.
- Carefully ladle the custard into the prepped ramekins, filling them almost to the top, as the custard won't expand at all. Place the ramekins into a high-walled baking dish; I used a 9"x9" baking pan. Boil a pot or kettle of water. Place the baking dish with the filled ramekins carefully into the oven, just at the edge. This will allow you to pour the boiling water into the baking dish, around the ramekins as a water bath. Doing it this way prevents you from having to fill the baking dish and then place it in the oven, where you risk sloshing the water around and into the custard. Fill the water bath ~3/4 of the way up the sides of the ramekins.
- Once full, push the filled baking dish back into the oven and bake for anywhere from 20-35 minutes, depending on the size of your ramekins. Make sure to rotate the pan halfway through. You know the custard is done when it's just set in the middle when you jiggle it. Alternatively, you can check the temperature of the custard with a thermometer, if it reads 175°F it's done.
- When done, remove the baking dish from the oven, and let cool in the water bath for a few minutes before carefully removing the ramekins from the water bath with tongs. Carefully pat the ramekins dry, and when they're cool enough to handle, wrap them in plastic wrap and allow to fully set in the fridge for at least 4-5 hours, but ideally overnight.
- When you're ready to serve the flans, remove the plastic wrap and gently run a small knife down around the inside edge of the ramekin, making sure it's going all the way down. This next part is where it gets a bit tricky. Once you've loosened the custard all the way around the side, gently pull in with the flat of the knife, you should see some liquid caramel come up the side. Do this very gently in a few places, this helps get air down to the bottom so there won't be as much suction preventing it from coming out of the ramekin.
- Place your serving plate upside down over the ramekin, and then flip them both over quickly, so the ramekin should now be upside down on the right side up plate. Slowly lift the ramekin, and the flan should come out. If it's not, give it a gentle shake, and it should release down onto the plate. It's not always going to be perfect, don't worry! It just takes some practice. And anyways, no matter how it looks, it will taste great!
- Enjoy!
