Flan de Leche
- Total Time
- 1½ hours, plus chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2½cups sugar
- 3cups whole milk, or 2 cups whole milk and 1 cup heavy cream
- 2strips lemon zest
- ⅛teaspoon salt
- 6large eggs
- 2egg yolks
- ½teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)
371 calories; 15 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 55 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 54 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 111 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Make caramel: Pour 1 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons water into a saucepan, preferably one that is white or light-colored inside. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, swirling the pan to combine the sugar and water. Do not stir. Let boil until deep amber in color, swirling the pan occasionally to caramelize evenly, about 10 minutes total. Watch the pan carefully after the mixture starts turning golden; it will quickly become light brown, then amber, then dark amber.
- Step 2
Immediately pour caramel into a 9- by -5-inch loaf pan and swirl to coat the bottom evenly. Set aside to harden.
- Step 3
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
- Step 4
In a saucepan or microwaveable bowl or pitcher, combine milk, lemon zest, salt and remaining 1½ cups sugar. Over low heat or in the microwave, heat through, stirring to melt the sugar. Set aside.
- Step 5
In a blender (or using a hand blender in a pitcher), combine eggs, egg yolks and vanilla. Blend until smooth.
- Step 6
Remove the lemon zest strips from the hot milk mixture. With the blender running, gradually pour the milk mixture into the eggs. Go very slowly at first so that the eggs don’t cook from the heat of the milk. Blend just until smooth. Pour egg-milk mixture into the caramel-lined pan.
- Step 7
Place a 9- by- 13-inch baking dish in the lower third of oven. Carefully place the loaf pan in the baking dish. Pour hot tap water into the baking dish until it comes about halfway up the sides of the loaf pan. (Don’t worry if the oven seems to be losing heat; the flan will adjust.)
- Step 8
Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until flan is set but still jiggly in the center. Remove flan from water bath and cool on a rack for 30 minutes. Refrigerate, uncovered, until cold and firm, at least 8 hours or up to 3 days. The caramel will soften as it sits.
- Step 9
To unmold, run a thin sharp knife around the edges. Center a flat-bottomed platter or serving dish with a rim on top of the pan and, holding both, carefully flip the pan and plate together. The flan will fall onto the plate with a squelch; lift off the pan and let the caramel run all over the top. (If the flan doesn’t come out, flip it back over and rest the bottom of the pan on a hot wet kitchen towel for a few minutes, to melt the caramel.) Serve chilled, in slices.
Private Notes
Comments
Hi Curtis, The caramel in a traditional flan is supposed to be syrupy not milky as you describe. Just sayin...
We love this recipes so much we made it every single week:
1. I mix up the eggs by hands and strain the custard mixture to eliminate bubbles. The texture is silky & very pretty.
2. Using a glass bakeware is helpful for a perfectly cooked flan. You'll want to double check around 35-min point to make sure the flan is not overcooked.
3. I tried both with & without lemon zest strip; found that I prefer the hint of citrus.
4. A warm towel is a must to get all the caramel out.
I have made many flan in the past and believe this is the best. I had no problem with the caramel, however, the cook time for me was about 2 hours versus the recipes 1 hr! I used a 9x5 loaf pan in a hot water bath in a 325 oven so not sure where I could have gone wrong. Perhaps the cook time was intended for a flan baked in a lower dish?
Not sure why so many commented on cooking time. I cooked for an hour, assuming I would need to add another 30-45' but it was almost overcooked after an hour (not wobbly). Suggest checking after the recommended 50" and at intervals afterward. Also, the sugar did not caramalise -- perhaps because pot was small and sugar was deep. Tried again with larger pot and worked fine. Added milk to first pot to make the custard.
Quick, easy, and fantastic. Definitely use the lemon zest. I did tweak it slightly; I just used 7 eggs because I don't like extra whites which was not a problem and made it in ramekins with shorter cooking time and made creme brûlée out of the extra custard - yum! Next time I'll stick with the dry method on caramel - as I had some trouble with crystalizing. I also beat the eggs by hand, and tempered with some warm milk before just mixing them into the milk bowl also by hand without issue.
Don’t bother looking for any other recipe! This is it! Make sure that you use a pot that is large enough to hold the milk after you have caramelized the sugar and poured it into the baking dish.