Cinnamon Spiced Pumpkin Flan Food

PUMPKIN FLAN (FLAN DE CALABAZA)

Steps:

• Start by mixing the spices into the pumpkin purée.
• Next, make the caramel. Heat the water and granulated sugar in a saucepan (stainless steel works best) over medium heat. Once it starts to bubble and change color, give the pan a shake or a quick stir. Let it cook and turn golden brown, but be careful it doesn't turn dark brown and burn. Once golden brown, quickly pour into a 4.5 cup baking mold (it can be one that is specifically for flan or any baking dish with that capacity).
• Quickly make sure that the caramel coats the bottom and sides of the mold before it hardens.
• To prepare the custard, put the milk, sugar, pumpkin, and vanilla into a saucepan and heat over medium heat until simmering. Cook until all of the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is evenly heated.
• Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes, stirring every minute or two. Preheat your oven to 325°F (163°C).
• Lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl. Making sure that the milk and pumpkin mixture is sufficiently cool (so that it won't scramble the eggs), whisk in this mixture little by little, until all is incorporated.
• Pour the custard mixture over the caramel.
• Place the flan mold/pan into a large baking pan. Boil enough water to fill the baking pan halfway (you have to cook the flan in a water bath). Bake the flan for about one hour in a preheated oven at 325°F (163°C).
• Remove the mold from the pan of water and allow it to cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge overnight (or for at least 4 hours).
• When ready to serve the flan, run a knife around the edges of the mold to loosen the flan. Then place the serving dish on top, and quickly flip the flan over. Lift off the mold and the flan should slide right out, covered in a golden caramel sauce.
• Enjoy your pumpkin flan on its own, or with whipped cream.

PUMPKIN FLAN WITH CINNAMON PUMPKINSEEDS

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine 3/4 cup sugar with 1/4 cup water. Simmer over medium-high heat, stirring often, until sugar dissolves. Partly cover pan and continue cooking until sugar turns medium amber, about 6 minutes. Immediately pour caramel into a 2 1/2-quart soufflé dish and quickly turn to coat bottom and sides.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a small saucepan, cook pumpkin over medium-high heat, stirring often, until dryish. In a large saucepan, heat milk with remaining 1 cup sugar until barely simmering. Gradually stir in semolina and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Whisk in pumpkin. Remove pan from heat and let cool slightly. Beat in eggs, vanilla and salt, then pour into soufflé dish.
• Set soufflé dish in a roasting pan. Pour hot water into pan to reach halfway up side of dish. Bake until a knife inserted in flan comes out clean, about 1 1/4 hours. Transfer dish to a rack and let cool slightly, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Lightly brush a medium skillet with oil. Add pumpkinseeds and toast over medium heat until they begin to pop and brown slightly, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in kosher salt and cinnamon.
• Run a knife around flan. Invert a round platter over dish. Holding dish and platter securely together, quickly invert flan onto platter; caramel sauce will spill out. Sprinkle flan with some cinnamon pumpkinseeds just before serving.

PUMPKIN FLAN

Steps:

• Make the caramel: In a heavy saucepan, mix 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water. The mixture should look like wet sand. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it begins to make large bubbles. Continue to cook without stirring, rotating the pan regularly, until the caramel is translucent and amber-colored, 12 to 15 minutes. Working quickly, pour caramel into a 2-quart oven-safe glass bowl and rotate the bowl so it coats the sides.
• Make the flan: In another saucepan, combine remaining sugar, cinnamon stick and half-and-half. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Let cool.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk eggs and egg yolks in a large bowl until well blended. Whisk in vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, salt and pumpkin and squash purées. Add cooled cream mixture and whisk well.
• Pour custard mixture through a mesh sieve, stirring and pressing with a spatula. You can do this directly into the bowl with the caramel, or into a separate bowl first, and then pour the strained mixture into the bowl with the caramel.
• Place the bowl with the custard into a larger baking dish and carefully add warm water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the flan bowl. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 45 to 60 minutes, or until flan is just set in the middle, but still jiggles slightly. (A wider, shallower baking vessel will cook more quickly than a deeper one.)
• Remove flan from water bath and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until completely cool, preferably overnight. To serve, run a knife around the edges of the flan, then put a serving platter on top of the bowl and invert. The flan should slip easily onto the serving platter with the caramel sauce pooling nicely around it.

PUMPKIN FLAN WITH CARAMEL AND CINNAMON WHIPPED CREAM

Steps:

• In a small skillet combine 2/3 cup of the sugar with 1/4 cup water and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring and washing down any sugar crystals clinging to the sides with a brush dipped in cold water until the sugar is dissolved. Cook the syrup, swirling the skillet, until it is a deep caramel, pour it into a warm 2-quart glass loaf pan, tilting the pan to coat the bottom evenly, and let the caramel harden.
• In a bowl beat the eggs with the remaining 2/3 cup sugar, beat in the pumpkin puree, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cream, and pour the custard into the loaf pan. Set the loaf pan in a deep baking pan, add enough hot water to the baking pan to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan, and bake the flan in the middle of a preheated moderate oven (350 degrees) for 1 hour and forty five minutes to 2 hours, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the flan cool and chill it, covered overnight. Run a thin knife around the edge of the loaf pan, invert a platter over the pan, and invert the flan onto the platter. Serve the flan, cut into slices, with the cinnamon whipped cream.

PERFECT PUMPKIN FLAN

Steps:

• Set out six 5-inch-wide, 6-ounce ceramic pie dishes. Fill a large bowl three-quarters-full with cold water, and place it near the stove. (This cold-water bath will be used to stop the caramel from cooking.) Combine 1 1/4 cups sugar and 1/2 cup cool water in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Boil, brushing the sides occasionally with a wet pastry brush, until syrup turns deep amber (330 to 350 degrees on a candy thermometer). Don't stir the sugar once it's boiling; this only encourages recrystallization, which occurs when the sugar does not dissolve evenly. Quickly dunk bottom of pan in cold water, then remove from bowl.
• Quickly divide caramel among pie dishes; swirl to coat the bottoms. Set dishes aside to cool, about 15 minutes. (This can be done several hours ahead of time; the dishes can be left at room temperature.)
• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Pour milk into saucepan over high heat. Bring just to a boil; set aside. In a bowl, combine pumpkin puree, remaining 3/4 cup sugar, ginger, spices, salt, eggs, and egg yolks. Mix in vanilla and milk; pass through fine sieve, discarding solids. Divide mixture between the dishes. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet large enough to hold them.
• Place baking sheet on center rack of oven; loosely drape a piece of foil over top of baking sheet (do not crimp or seal edges). Lift a corner of the foil and pour very hot water into sheet pan to reach 1/2 inch up the sides of the pie dishes. Bake 60 to 65 minutes, or until center of flan is nearly set; a thin-bladed knife inserted into center should come out clean. Remove the dishes from the water bath, dry underside and let slightly cool on wire rack. Refrigerate to set, several hours or overnight. (Let the water bath cool completely before removing it from the oven.)
• To unmold flan, run a knife carefully around edges, without cutting into flan. Place plate over top of pie pan and invert. Flan should fall with caramel sauce surrounding the flan. Serve with whipped cream. Garnish with cinnamon sticks.

PUMPKIN FLAN WITH SPICED PUMPKIN SEEDS

Steps:

• Make caramel:
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Heat soufflé dish in oven while making caramel.
• Cook 1 cup sugar in a dry 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar melts into a deep golden caramel. Wearing oven mitts, remove hot dish from oven and immediately pour caramel into dish, tilting it to cover bottom and side. (Leave oven on.) Keep tilting as caramel cools and thickens enough to coat, then let harden.
• Make flan:
• Bring cream and milk to a bare simmer in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, then remove from heat. Whisk together whole eggs, yolk, and remaining cup sugar in a large bowl until combined well, then whisk in pumpkin, vanilla, spices, and salt until combined well. Add hot cream mixture in a slow stream, whisking.
• Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, scraping with a rubber spatula to force through, and stir to combine well. Pour custard over caramel in dish, then bake in a water bath until flan is golden brown on top and a knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 1/4 hours. Remove dish from water bath and transfer to a rack to cool. Chill flan, covered, until cold, at least 6 hours.
• Make spiced pumpkin seeds while flan chills:
• Toast pumpkin seeds in oil in a 10- to 12-inch heavy skillet (preferably cast-iron) over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Toss with salt and cayenne until coated.
• To serve:
• Run a thin knife between flan and side of dish to loosen. Shake dish gently from side to side and, when flan moves freely in dish, invert a large platter with a lip over dish. Holding dish and platter securely together, quickly invert and turn out flan onto platter. (Caramel will pour out over and around flan.) Sprinkle flan with spiced pumpkin seeds just before serving.

PUMPKIN FLAN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Put the granulated sugar in a 9-inch cake pan or pie plate, set on the center rack in the oven, and bake until the sugar is caramel colored, 8 to 12 minutes. Swirl to cover the bottom of the pie plate with the caramel.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Stir in pumpkin puree. In a medium bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, eggs, and vanilla. Thoroughly blend the egg mixture into the pumpkin puree.
• Set the pie plate in a large roasting pan, and pour the custard over the caramel. Carefully pour enough hot tap water into the roasting pan to reach halfway up the sides of the pie plate. Bake until the custard is set, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool and chill in the refrigerator. Run a knife around the outside edge of the flan and invert it onto a rimmed plate. Cut into wedges or scoop and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

PUMPKIN FLAN

Steps:

• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Stir 2/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Boil until mixture turns amber-colored, brushing any crystals that form on sides of pan with wet brush and swirling pan occasionally, about 7 minutes. Immediately divide caramel among six 1/2-cup soufflè dishes to cover bottoms and sides with caramel. Cool.
• Whisk pumpkin, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and allspice in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in milk. Divide mixture among soufflè dishes. Place dishes in large baking pan. Add enough water to baking pan to come halfway up sides of dishes. Bake until flan is set, about 55 minutes. Cool. Refrigerate at least 8 hours and up to 2 days. Run small sharp knife around edges of dishes to loosen. Turn flans out onto plates and serve.