Flan Tastic Flan In A Pan Food

EASY FLAN RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Pour the sugar into a skillet over medium heat. Stir the sugar continually until it begins to brown and clump together. Keep stirring until the sugar completely melts and dissolves into a golden-brown syrup. Remove the syrup from the heat as soon as it has dissolves as it can burn.
• Working quickly, carefully pour the caramel into a 7-inch round pan or a special flan pan (flanera) as shown in the photos in the blog post. Pour the caramel evenly into the bottom of the pan so the entire bottom is coated. If you need to, use an oven mitt or potholders to move the pan from side to side to get the caramel evenly distributed. If the caramel hardens too quickly, you can carefully reheat the pan by placing it directly on the stove or on the skillet for a few seconds.
• Set the caramel-coated pan aside to cool and harden.
• In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, sweetened condensed milk, whole milk and vanilla extract. Whisk together until everything is fully combined, but try not to overwhisk so that there aren't too many air bubbles in the mixture.
• Pour the custard mixture into the caramel-coated pan. Cover the top of the pan with the lid (if using a flanera) or tightly with aluminum foil.
• Place the flan pan in a large baking dish and pour enough water in the dish until it reaches about halfway up the pan. Carefully place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Carefully remove the dish from the oven, and then lift the flan pan out of the water bath. Remove the lid or aluminum foil and let it cool to room temperature. The flan may still be a little jiggly, but that's okay - it will continue to cook with the residual heat.
• Once it's cooled, cover with the lid or aluminum foil and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
• To serve, remove the lid or aluminum foil and slide a knife along the edges of the pan to loosen it up. Place a plate or platter on top of the flan, grab a hold of both the plate and the pan and quickly and securely flip it over so that the flan is now upside down. Carefully lift off the flan pan. Your flan should be sitting in the caramel on the plate, ready to enjoy!
• Carefully lift the flan pan up. The flan should be on the plate - if it's not, place the pan back down and let it sit for a few minutes. Don't freak out! It will loosen up and slide out. You could try tapping the sides of the pan a bit or even giving the sides a squeeze.
• Slice the flan and serve with the rich caramel sauce!

FLAN-TASTIC FLAN (IN A PAN!)

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 350
• 2. Blend together: sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, eggs, vanilla and salt in blender until frothy on top. May have to do it in two batches. If so, mix half of everything in one batch and the remaining half in the second batch so you get a uniform mixture. Set aside.
• 3. Place DRY sugar in heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, stir sugar constantly until it melts and turns golden brown. This takes awhile and the sugar will get all lumpy before it melts. Just keep stirring and do NOT add water. When it reaches a light-medium golden color...pull it off the stove (if you brown the sugar too much it will turn bitter and you'll have to chuck it and start over, so be careful.)
• 4. IMMEDIATELY pour the caramelized sugar into an UNGREASED 7 1/2 x 12 inch glass baking dish* to coat bottom of dish evenly. You have to work quickly as this sets up really fast. Let sugar-coated baking dish cool on counter to room temperature. As the sugar cools, it will crack. Don't worry, it's not your dish cracking...just the sugar.
• 5. Pour egg/milk mixture into dish over cooled sugar. Place filled dish in 1-inch water bath**. Cover with tented aluminum foil and crimp edges around dish. Be careful that foil does not touch top of flan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours or until knife comes clean when inserted. Remove foil and continue baking, uncovered, for 10-15 additional minutes until top of flan is lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool to room temp. Cover with tented foil (can use toothpicks to hold foil off top of flan) and refrigerate until cold (overnight is best).
• 6. * May use individual ramekins if preferred. May also use a 9x13 pan but you will need to increase the recipe by about 1/2.
• 7. **to make water bath (aka "Bain Marie"), use disposable aluminum roasting pan (or a regular roasting pan) that is at least a couple of inches larger around than the baking dish. Fill with hot water about 1 inch or so up the side of baking dish. You will periodically need to refill water bath to maintain adequate level during baking process.

FLAN

Steps:

• (This recipe should be made at least one day before serving.) Adjust a rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 300°F.
• Stir together the sugar and ¼ cup water in a small heavy saucepan until the sugar is completely moistened. Bring to boil over medium-high heat and cook, without stirring, until the mixture begins to turn golden. Gently swirling the pan, continue to cook until sugar is a honey color. Remove from the heat and swirl the pan until the sugar is reddish-amber and fragrant, 15 to 20 seconds. Carefully swirl in 2 tablespoons of warm tap water until incorporated - be careful as the mixture will bubble and steam. This whole process should take less than 10 minutes.
• Pour the caramel into an 8½ x 4½-inch loaf pan; do not scrape out the saucepan. (Note: The caramel will solidify when you pour it into the loaf pan. That's ok -- it will soften up again as it bakes.) Set the loaf pan aside. (To clean the hardened caramel from the saucepan, fill the pan with water and bring it to a boil.)
• Whisk the eggs and yolks in large bowl until combined. Add the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, whole milk, vanilla, Bourbon, and salt and whisk until incorporated. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl to remove any bits of egg; then pour the strained custard into the loaf pan over the caramel. Cover the loaf pan tightly with aluminum foil.
• Place the loaf pan in the center of a 9x13-inch baking or roasting pan (preferably with high sides) to make a water bath. Place the nested pans in the oven; then, using a tea kettle or pitcher, pour hot water around the loaf pan until it reaches about halfway up the sides of the loaf pan. Bake for 75 to 90 minutes. Very carefully pull back the foil (there will be steam that has accumulated under it) to ensure the custard is set around the edges but still a bit jiggly in the center. (Don't worry that it seems undercooked. The custard will continue to cook as it cools, and the center will set completely -- I promise!) Carefully remove the pans from the oven. Remove the foil and leave the flan in the water bath for 1 hour to cool.
• Remove the loaf pan from the water bath and wipe the pan dry. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge overnight or up to 4 days.
• To unmold the flan, carefully slide a sharp knife around the edges of the pan. Invert a platter with a raised rim (to contain the liquid caramel) on top of the flan and turn the pan and platter over. If the flan doesn't release immediately, let it sit inverted for a minute and it should slide out. If it still doesn't come out, try running the knife around the edges again. When the flan is released, remove the loaf pan. Using rubber spatula, scrape the residual caramel onto the platter. You won't be able to release all of the caramel - that's okay. Slice the flan and spoon the sauce over individual portions. (Leftover flan may be covered loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 4 days.)
• Note: If you would like to omit the Bourbon, replace with an additional 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.