Venezuelan Style Quesillo Flan Desert Food

VENEZUELAN FLAN QUESILLO

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375º F (190º C). Place oven rack in the middle.

QUESILLO (VENEZUELAN FLAN)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Prepare a bain-marie, or water bath, by filling a 9-inch heat-proof container with water.
• Melt sugar in a nonstick pan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until melted, 7 to 10 minutes; be careful to keep it from burning. Pour sugar into a flan mold, coating the sides to ensure that the egg/milk mixture in the next step will not touch the container.
• Pour sweetened condensed milk into a bowl. Fill the empty can with milk and add to the bowl; stir in eggs and vanilla extract. Blend well. Fold mixture with a spatula or tap against the counter to remove air bubbles.
• Pour milk mixture into the slightly cooled flan mold. Put the lid on and place inside the water bath; don't let the water go over the rim.
• Bake the quesillo in the bain-marie in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Pry lid open with a knife carefully; continue baking until set, about 15 minutes more.
• Let quesillo cool to room temperature, at least 25 minutes; refrigerate 8 hours to overnight. Slide a knife around the edges of the mold to loosen and invert onto a plate.

QUESILLO (VENEZUELAN CUSTARD)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Over med. heat melt sugar in a cake pan or in a pot. You can add a tiny bit of water (1 Tablespoon or so) before sugar heats up to make it a little lighter.
• After sugar is melted it should be light brown. Don't let it get dark or burn. Take off the heat and if it's in the cake pan let it cool. If it's in a saucepan, pour it into the cake pan and let cover the bottom of the pan and harden a bit.
• Put the rest of the ingredients into a blender and blend for a few minutes. Then pour on top of the caramel mixture in the pan. Place the cake pan into a larger casserole or round glass dish and fill the larger pan with water until the water comes up to about halfway on outside of the cake pan. This is called a bain-marie or bano de maria in spanish. Place this into the oven and bake for about an hour or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• Place cake pan in refrigerator to cool for about 5 hours to overnight. If you're in a huge hurry you can also leave it in the bain-marie but dump the water and refill with cool water then add some ice cubes to this and place in refrigerator. If the ice cubes melt, add some more, removing a bit of water if necessary so as not to cause overflow. This could be ready in an hour or two if the ice is replenished often.
• Alternatively I'll sometimes do this in two loaf pans and place both into a large casserole dish. In that case, sprinkle enough sugar to coat the bottom of each pan lightly.