My Boxing Day Dinner Party was all about experimenting. I made Ceviche, Cornbread, Mexican Flan and many other recipes for the first time.
I actually had no intention of making Flan, it really didn’t even enter my head when putting the menu together until my friend, Tricia insisted I make it. Why not give it a go I thought. I found a great recipe with lots of very positive customer ratings and decided to go for it.
I realized making the traditional Mexican Flan is very similar to making crème brulee, without the torching. It’s a bit messy and it is soooo fattening. It is ridiculously good though, especially for those that have a sweet tooth.
Ingredients
Serves 8; Recipe from All.Recipes.com
1 cup white sugar
1 cup whole milk
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup heavy cream
Directions
Place sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts and turns a golden amber color, about 10 minutes. Watch carefully once syrup begins to change color, because it burns easily. Carefully pour the melted sugar syrup into a flan mold. Let cool.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Pour whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, egg yolks, orange juice, orange peel, vanilla extract, and cornstarch into a blender, and blend for a minute or so, until the mixture is smooth. Pour in the cream and pulse several times to incorporate the cream. Pour the mixture over the cooled caramel syrup in the flan mold.
Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place the flan mold on the towel, inside roasting pan, and place roasting pan on oven rack. Fill roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the baking dish.
Bake in the preheated oven until the center of the flan is set but still slightly jiggly when moved, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let the flan cool, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours. To serve, run a sharp paring knife around the inside of the mold to release the flan. Invert a plate on the mold, flip the mold over, and gently remove the mold to unmold the flan and reveal the syrupy caramel topping.
I was so pleased with how it turned out. Definitely worth a making again. Next time I would use a smaller flan plan so the flan itself is deeper but all in all very good.
