Flan from an Ex

This recipe comes from the wife of one of my college professors.  She got the recipe from my professor who got it from one of his ex-girlfriends who happened to be from Spain.  Weird story right? I am not a big fan of flan but my family and boyfriend love it so I decided to make this recipe for them.  Flan tastes a lot better homemade than from a package, the texture and flavor is so different, especially this recipe, the flan tastes so smooth it's to die for! This recipe requires lots of egg yolks, so maybe make it in the morning and use all those extra egg whites for a healthy omelet :)

Flan with Caramel #2!

INGREDIENTS:

**I have provided two caramel recipes, just try one of the two, caramel #1 is a much lighter syrup and takes a lot longer to make than caramel #2. 

Caramel #1:
2 cups white sugar
2/3 cups of water

Caramel #2:
2 cups white sugar

Flan:
3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1 small cinnamon stick
1 1/2 tsp lemon peel
8 egg yolks
2 eggs

DIRECTIONS: (makes about 10 Flans in 60 oz ramekins)

Caramel #1: *This is a lighter syrup.

1. Over medium heat, in a small sauce pan, mix white sugar and water together, stir until all sugar has melted
2. Cook until the sugar turns golden brown (about 15mins if done over medium heat)
3. Poor into the bottom of the ramekins or the dish you are using for the flan.  Don't worry if it hardens, once they bake with the flan mixture the caramel will become syrupy.

Caramel #2: *This syrup has a darker flavor but is faster to make

1. Over medium heat, in a small sauce pan, cook the sugar until all the sugar has melted and become a golden brown syrup

Flan:

1. In a medium sauce pan mix whole milk, heavy whipping cream, white sugar, cinnamon and lemon peel.
2. Cook over medium heat until the milk mixture comes to a light boil (about 20-30 mins)
3. Once it starts boiling remove from heat and let cool 20 mins
4. In a separate bowl, Beat the egg yolks and eggs
5. Slowly add 1/2 cup of milk mixture to the eggs while beating constantly.  This is done to temper the eggs.  Now add this mixture to the milk.
6. Strain the mixture.
7. Pour into the caramel lined ramekins or dish.
8. Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F.
9. Place ramekins in a large glass or ceramic baking dish and fill with about 1-2 inches of hot water. Bake for 60-70 minutes in the water bath and check with a knife just to the side of the center. If knife comes out clean, it's ready.
10. Now refrigerate (refrigerate for at least 1 hour before eating) **TIP: to take them out of the ramekin, place the ramekin in hot water for about 1 minute, then create an air pocket by sliding a knife in and out on the side (just once), now you can flip it over on a plate and enjoy!

PICTURES OF PROCESS: ** Sorry there are not more pictures of the process, I forgot to take pics of the milk cooking!

Adding the syrup to the dish and spreading it around, if you can't spread it around because the syrup has hardened don't worry, once cooked the syrup will melt through the bottom and when taken out of the dish it will just melt on top of the Flan. (Pic is of Flan with caramel #2)



I only had 6 small ramekins so I had to improvise by using some glass dishes in order to use up all of the Flan mixture.  So here is the Flan in the oven in a water bath. Oh yeah don't forget to cover with tin foil!! Or else the top will burn, bubble and become dry and rubbery!



All cooked and ready to be cooled in the fridge :)

Flan with Caramel #1, delicious!