Flan de Leche

Creamy, caramely and has gotten a "Ñoooo" or two from flan lovers.

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One of my favorite things to make for a dinner party, a general pot-luck or Noche Buena is Flan. Besides the obvious of it being a staple latino dessert that's deliciously creamy, caramely and giving that amazing silky mouth feel, it can be pretty easy to make. Active cooking time is not too long and you can (need to) make it the night before, so as long as you thought about it before hand, stress is not high. It's also a way to make friends when your home sick and start your first post college job in a new state with people you've never met before...at least that's what I did.

"Best Flan I've Had" - Person I worked with that inspired me to post this recipe

Many have a flan recipe they swear by, and this is mine. It's evolved a bit over the years, (you can see a slightly older version in my tik-tok here) but always for the best. So I hope you try it out and see what you think about it yourself.

The Flan de Leche (Milk Flan) Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup of sugar

• 3/4 cups of whole milk

• Cinnamon stick

• 1 whole egg, 6 yolks

• Can of condensed milk

• Can of evaporated milk

• 2 Tbs of vanilla extract

• Pinch of kosher salt

Special Equipment

• 8 Ramekins or a loaf pan

• Deep Roasting pan for water bath

Instructions

Make a day ahead

1. Place roasting pan in middle rack and preheat oven to 300° F.

2. In a saucepan simmer milk with cinnamon stick for 2-5 minutes. Take off heat and let cool.

3. Place a small sauce pan over high heat and add sugar. Goal here is to melt the sugar until it turns into a fragrant caramel with a beautiful deep amber color. Please make sure to keep an eye on it once it starts to turn golden because it will soon start turning into the deep amber color and if you get distracted it can easily burn.

4. Pour caramel into your mold(s)

5. In a large bowl gently whisk your eggs, do not whisk too much. Try to avoid making air bubbles.

6. Add in cinnamon milk mixture, evaporated milk, condensed milk, vanilla extract and pinch of salt. Gently whisk together again avoiding making air bubbles.

7. Strain egg mixture into a large measuring cup so that it's easier to pour into your molds, but its okay if you use a bowl instead.

8. Carefully place mold into roasting pan and using a tea kettle pour hot water half way up the mold.

9. Bake for 75-90 minutes. You want to have a slight wobble in the middle of the flan it will continue to cook in the bath water and will set while in the fridge. If its solid, the flan has overcooked and won't be as creamy.

10. Continue to rest in roasting pan for an hour.

11. Wrap mold and then place overnight in the fridge.

12. Place presentation plate on top of the mold and flip upside down. If flan is having difficulty removing from the mold carefully run a knife along the edges of the mold to help loosen it up.

Notes and Tips

1. You can see how I make an older version of this recipe on my TikTok.

2. All my recipes use diamond kosher salt

3. When caramelizing the sugar make sure you have a clean pot to avoid crystalization. If its a bit difficult to get the deep amber color in step two, you can add a 1/4 cup of water right after adding the sugar. I find it that sometimes making the caramel with the water can be easier, it just takes a bit longer since all the water needs to evaporate.

4. If you are using a mold that has details like in a bundt pan, this recipe may prove difficult because you may need more egg whites.

5. If you find your flan is having trouble cooking, try covering the mold with aluminum.