step-by-step Flan
INGREDIENTS
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 4 eggs
* 1 3/4 cups water
* 1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 tsp almond extract
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 flan pan or deep 9-inch pie dish or similarly-sized sloped-sided oven-safe casserole dish.
* 1 larger pan your flan pan goes inside
DIRECTIONS
In medium-sized bowl, add salt and vanilla extract into the 1 3/4 cups water, then stir in condensed milk until dissolved. Set aside. Put an ice pack or vessel of ice water near your stove. This is to use if the melted sugar gets on you--it'll stick like napalm.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Boil a full teakettle of water on a large burner, then set it over the burner your oven exhausts from to keep it warm. Put a heavy skillet over the burner the teakettle just vacated, and turn the burner down to medium.
Let your skillet warm, then put the 3/4 cup sugar into it.
Some areas of sugar will begin to melt before others. As they do, pick up the skillet and swirl the sugar around. I've read that stirring it makes it lumpy, but swirling it doesn't. You only need to heat the sugar till it's all melted. Swirling the melted parts away from the hot spots help keep them from burning and turning bitter.
Once the sugar is melted, pour it immediately into your flan pan, coating the bottom and as much of the sides as you can before it hardens up. You're done with the difficult part.
Beat eggs until they're mixed together, not foamy; then stir them into your water/condensed milk mixture. You don't want to whip everything frothy, just blend it together nicely. Pour through strainer into your pan containing the caramelized sugar; set pan in larger pan (a broiler pan or some such). Fill larger pan with 1-inch or more hot water from your teakettle without sloshing any into the custard.
Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.** Cool for an hour. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Loosen sides of flan with knife; invert onto serving plate with rim as the caramel would run over the sides and completely off of a flat plate. Refrigerate leftovers.
**Caveat: I haven't had a knife come out completely clean, so you'll have to use your own judgment. I end up baking it about 70 minutes. You want it done, but not dried out and shrinking up. The flan will continue to cook some once you take it out of the oven.
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 4 eggs
* 1 3/4 cups water
* 1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 tsp almond extract
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 flan pan or deep 9-inch pie dish or similarly-sized sloped-sided oven-safe casserole dish.
* 1 larger pan your flan pan goes inside
DIRECTIONS
In medium-sized bowl, add salt and vanilla extract into the 1 3/4 cups water, then stir in condensed milk until dissolved. Set aside. Put an ice pack or vessel of ice water near your stove. This is to use if the melted sugar gets on you--it'll stick like napalm.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Boil a full teakettle of water on a large burner, then set it over the burner your oven exhausts from to keep it warm. Put a heavy skillet over the burner the teakettle just vacated, and turn the burner down to medium.
Let your skillet warm, then put the 3/4 cup sugar into it.
Some areas of sugar will begin to melt before others. As they do, pick up the skillet and swirl the sugar around. I've read that stirring it makes it lumpy, but swirling it doesn't. You only need to heat the sugar till it's all melted. Swirling the melted parts away from the hot spots help keep them from burning and turning bitter.
Once the sugar is melted, pour it immediately into your flan pan, coating the bottom and as much of the sides as you can before it hardens up. You're done with the difficult part.
Beat eggs until they're mixed together, not foamy; then stir them into your water/condensed milk mixture. You don't want to whip everything frothy, just blend it together nicely. Pour through strainer into your pan containing the caramelized sugar; set pan in larger pan (a broiler pan or some such). Fill larger pan with 1-inch or more hot water from your teakettle without sloshing any into the custard.
Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.** Cool for an hour. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Loosen sides of flan with knife; invert onto serving plate with rim as the caramel would run over the sides and completely off of a flat plate. Refrigerate leftovers.
**Caveat: I haven't had a knife come out completely clean, so you'll have to use your own judgment. I end up baking it about 70 minutes. You want it done, but not dried out and shrinking up. The flan will continue to cook some once you take it out of the oven.