Something close to home

As I was mulling over all of my favorite recipes I decided to start with something that is near and dear to my heart. My grandmother's flan (caramel custard for the less exotic). Now I'm sure you've seen and tried flan before (if you haven't I highly suggest you run not walk to your local goya aisle and try this recipe at once, you'll want to have my babies after, I promise), but I guarantee you've never tried anything like this. Its rich creamy smoothness is like a satin dream on your tongue. Its perfect flavor and texture is like a mouth orgasm. I'm not kidding. Now being Hispanic I've tried hundreds of flan recipes in my life, but nothing ever comes close to the ethnic home flavor of my grandma's flan. I knew that my first recipe could only be this.

Now I'm far from a professional photographer so I must warn you more times than not the deliciousness you see on here will probably taste better than it looks, but I promise I will never steer you wrong, and to try my best to spruce up the stars of the show (as seen above). You'll have to forgive me if my pics aren't taken with natural light (whatever that is, but I've seen people say it on other cooking blogs and I wanted to sound like I knew what i was talking about), but quite frankly blogging is time consuming enough. I really can't afford to worry about catching the right lighting for the pic when I barely have time to bake a cookie let alone take a decent photograph of it. Not to mention the fact that I cook mostly by memory so though I wont leave out any ingredients I'm a terrible recipe writer.

If you ever feel that I've missed a step or left out temperature its very possible I did so just post any questions you may have about the recipe and I will answer them as soon as possible. And now without further ado...Zee flan. Savor it, indulge in it, use it in foreplay. I don't care what you do with it as long as you don't deny yourself of this heaven on your lips a moment longer. You and your mouth will thank me, and sing me praises and name your first born after me.

XOXO

Stay sweet;)

Grandma's Flan
Source: Grandma's heart

Caramel:
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar


Flan:
6 eggs
1 can of evaporated milk
1 can of condensed milk
1 can of Nestle table cream or Media crema (found in the goya aisle at your local supermarket) or 1/4 cup of sour cream if you do not find media crema in your supermarket.
1 tbsp of pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bring a saucepan of water to boil. Put a metal 8 inch round cake pan (I used a fluted muffin pan, use whatever pan you would like) in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel.

Caramel:
Stir the sugar, water together in a small saucepan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel. Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside.

Flan:
whisk 6 eggs. Add evaporated milk, condensed milk, and table milk and mix on medium until well blended. Using spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up. Put the caramel lined pan into a 9*13 inch baking pan because you have to cook it in a water bath. Pour the custard into the caramel lined pan and slide into the oven. Very carefully pour enough hot water from the saucepan into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Don’t worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.) Bake the flan for about 45 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there. A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean.


Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it. Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan. Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan-the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.


Prepare taste buds to taste heaven.