Five Ingredients: Flan

Happy Cinco de Mayo! To celebrate the holiday I’ve turned my attention to flan, a caramel-topped custard dessert that you can prepare with just five ingredients. I consider it to be the under appreciated cousin of crème brûlée, often overlooked because it doesn’t require the pageantry of a butane torch (nothing says “fancy” quite like a controlled fire in the kitchen). You can easily flavor it with chocolate, coconut, or just about anything else that can be added to or infused into custard, but I decided to go for a basic flan with just a touch of vanilla.

Vanilla Flan
Caramel:
-1/2 cup sugar
-3 tbs. water

Custard:
-3 eggs
-1 egg yolk
-2 cups whole milk
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 tsp. vanilla

Equipment list:
-1 small saucepan
-1 medium saucepan
-4 6oz ramekins or custard cups (If you don’t have any, they are affordable at $2-$3 each at most cooking stores)
-1 baking dish (preferably glass) with minimum depth of 3 inches
-1 large mixing bowl
-Whisk
-Teakettle (or additional small saucepan)

1) Place the 4 ramekins or custard cups into the baking dish near the stove. Make sure the cups aren’t touching the sides of the dish or each other to ensure even heating. I decided to try out my new custard cups for this recipe.

2) Add sugar and 3 tbs. water to the small saucepan and stir until all of the sugar is moistened. Turn on heat to medium-high. It should take 6-10 minutes for the sugar to melt into a syrup and caramelize, the ideal color being a light golden brown. I don’t recommend stirring at all during this time, but you can swirl the pan if you need to break up any chunks of sugar that aren’t heating. Keep a close eye on it because once it starts to caramelize, it will go quickly.

2) Once the sugar has reached a light golden brown, quickly pour even amounts into each cup. Use a pot holder or oven mitt to then pick up each cup and create a uniform coating on the bottom.

3) Preheat the oven to 350°.

4) Break the 3 whole eggs into the large mixing bowl, then add the single egg yolk. Pour in a splash of vanilla and then whisk lightly until fully mixed. Make sure not to whisk too much as you want to avoid adding air to the eggs.

5) Put the teakettle on to boil and pour the milk and remaining sugar into the medium saucepan. Bring to a very light simmer while stirring occasionally, then reduce the heat to low.

6) Now it’s time to temper the eggs. This requires adding the warm milk and sugar mixture to the eggs in small amounts to slowly bring their temperature up. If you were to add the milk all at once, it would result in a bowl of sweet scrambled eggs.

Slowly add 1/3 cup of the warm milk and sugar mixture to the eggs while whisking continuously. Repeat this twice more, then slowly pour the contents of the mixing bowl into the warm saucepan while whisking.

7) Once the milk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla are fully incorporated, evenly divide between the cups.

8 ) The teakettle should be near boiling at this point. Remove from heat and then pour the water into the baking dish, taking care not to get any in the custard, until it reaches halfway up the cups.

9) Using pot holders, carefully place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the custard is softly set. This means the custard is firm but will still jiggle a bit in the center.

10) Remove the baking dish from the oven, then place the cups on a cooling rack or towel-covered counter. Allow them to cool almost completely and then put them in the fridge to chill for 3-4 hours.

11) Once completely chilled, remove the cups from the fridge. To serve, run a thin knife around the edge of the custard to loosen, then turn upside down on a plate. If it does not come out immediately, place the cup in shallow baking dish filled with warm water for 10 seconds and try again.