What Is Flan?
It’s an open sweet or savory tart also known as creme caramel. This custard dessert with a layer of caramel sauce is served either warm or cold, flan originated in Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal. In the 20th century flan reserved a special place in the menu of European restaurants excessively, as it was easy for restaurant owners to serve this dessert as they were able to prepare a lot in advance and keep them until needed.
Flan is generally enjoyed when it’s cold. It can be served as a midday snack or an after meal, dessert, the shelf life of a flan is 3 to 4 days when kept in the refrigerator.
Flan pie is a sweet dish served commonly as dessert at parties, fiestas and at other important occasions. It is either baked in the oven or steamed. After cooking it, finally it is refrigerated to chill. It is known for its creamy texture and smooth consistency which is achieved by cooking the custard in a water bath to achieve the desired moisture and softness; it also ensures that the eggs are not overcooked, curdled or scrambled. Custard is cooked in a water bath to create steam in the oven to cook the flan evenly and perfectly.
Different Types Of Flan
Dessert flan is favorite of million and that’s why it’s so widespread that it is cooked in varieties, all around the globe, below here are listed few different types of flan pie prepared from one country to another country:
- Argentinian Flan (Flan mixto)
- Chilean Flan (Leche Asada or Chilean Roasted Milk)
- Chinese Flan (Chinese Steamed Flan)
- Brazilian (Portuguese) Flan (Pudim de Leite Condensado)
- Colombian Flan (Flan de Leche)
- Cuban Flan (Flan Cubano)
- FilipinoFlan (Filipino Creme Caramel)
- French Flan (Parisian Flan or French Custard Pie)
- German Flan (Obsttorte or Obstboden)
- Mexican Flan (Flan Mexicano)
- Japanese Flan (Purin or Japanese Custard Pudding)
What Are The Common Ingredients Required To Make Flan
Flan is an exotic, rich and classy, sweet dish topped with caramel sauce that appears fancy, but it’s quite simple to cook with simple ingredients.
Following is the ingredient required to cook flan:
- Sugar
- Water
- Cream cheese
- Eggs
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Evaporated milk
- Vanilla extract
Quantity of the ingredients depends on how much flan you want to cook.
1What Is The Recipe For Traditional Flan?
The silky cream texture and tempting flavor is superb for any occasion, it’s the easiest and most delicious dessert, the beautiful traditional flan easy recipe requires very few ingredients to get cooked lets begin with the ingredients required.
- 3/4 granulated sugar
- 1 can or 12 fluid ounces of evaporated milk
- 6 large eggs
- 1 can or 14 fluid ounces of sweet condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
Procedure To Cook Traditional Flan
Step 1 – You begin cooking with preheating oven to 350 degree F
Step 2 – Take heavy bottom saucepan and place it on the flame with sugar in it, heat sugar over medium low heat and stir it constantly for 6 to8 minutes until the sugar gets dissolved completely, you will notice that sugar has changed to caramel color, put off the flame and pour the caramel sauce onto the bottom of a 9 inch round cake pan and quickly swirl it around the bottom to coat.
Step 3 – Now blend condensed milk, evaporated milk, eggs and vanilla extract, all together in a blender for 5 seconds and pour it into the prepared pan cover lightly with foil. Place the pan in a large roasting pan and fill it with warm water to about 1 inch depth.
Step 4 – After placing the pan in the oven, bake it for 50 minutes. To find out if the flan is cooked you can check with this important tip: insert the knife from the top to the center of the flan. If it comes out, clean it is perfectly cooked, remove the flan from water and let it cool down.
Step 5 – Refrigerate the traditional flan for 4 to 5 hours.
Step 6 – Serving is the most important part of the flan: run a small spatula around the edges of the pan, invert the serving plate on the pan and turn over and shake it gently to release from the pan.
Step 7 – You will find a traditional flan coated with caramel sauce on the top, your flan is ready to be served.
2How To Make Spanish Flan
Preparation Time: 20 Minutes
Cooking Time: 1 Hour
Number Of Servings: 8
Nutrition Facts: Per serving it contains 349 calories, 9.5 grams of protein, carbohydrates 56.7 grams, fat 9.7 grams, cholesterol 100.1 mg, sodium 138.7 mg.
Ingredients Required To Make Spanish Flan
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 can or 14 ounces of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 can or 12 fluid ounces evaporated milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Method To Cook Spanish Flan
Step 1 – Before beginning the cooking procedure preheat the oven to 350 degree F or 175 degrees C
Step 2 – Now begin the process by making caramel take a medium saucepan, heat it on the low-medium flame, melt the sugar until it liquefies and turns into golden color. Remove the pan from the flame and pour the hot syrup into a 9 inch round glass baking dish, turn the dish to evenly coat the bottom and sides set aside.
Step 3 – Now you have to prepare the custard, take a large bowl, crack eggs, beat the eggs in condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla extract until a smooth texture appears. Pour the egg mixture into the baking dish set aside caramel syrup. Now place the dish in a pan with water and cover the dish with an aluminum foil and place it in a preheated oven for 60 minutes.
Step 4 – Remove the dish from the oven and let it cool down completely, now place the dish in the refrigerator for 6 hours.
Step 5 – Your Spanish flan is now ready to serve, just run the knife around the edges and invert it onto a serving plate, enjoy the delicious delicacy with your friend and family.
3How To Make Mexican Flan Or Flan Mexicano
Preparation Time: 10 Minutes
Cooking Time: 50 Minutes
Caramel Preparation: 10 Minutes
Number Of Servings: 8
Nutrition Fact: 1 serving contains 467 calories, 58 grams carbohydrates, 13 grams protein, 21 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 1 gram trans fat, cholesterol 200 mg, sodium 255 mg, potassium 410 mg and sugar 57g.
Below Here Is A List Of Ingredients Required
- 1 can of condensed milk
- 1 can of evaporated milk
- 6 eggs
- 1 packet of cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 2 tablespoons of water
- 1 cup of sugar
Follow Below Mentioned Mexican Flan Easy Recipe
Step 1 – Take a medium size pan, add the sugar and water and place it on the flame to boil on a high heat until the sugar dissolves completely, when the sugar dissolves reduce the heat and let it boil until the syrup turns light brown caramel color, this procedure will take about 10 minutes.
Step 2 – Pour the caramel in your oven proof dish and swirl it around so that the caramel covers the bottom of the dish evenly and let it cool down.
Step 3 – Now take the Blender and place all the ingredients together and blend it until you have a smooth texture.
Step 4 – Pour the mixture slowly into the prepared pan with caramel syrup and cover it with aluminum foil
Step 5 – For the water bath, place the flan in a large baking pan and add hot water to the pan until it reaches about ¾ inches.
Step 6 – Place the dish in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Step 7 – Remove the dish from the oven and let it cool down completely insert the knife in the center of the flan to check if it is cooked perfectly.
Step 8 – Place a large serving plate on top of the pan and invert it with a quick move to avoid any spill of caramel syrup. Your flan is ready, slice it and serve.
4How To Make Cuban Flan
Cuban flan is a denser and creamier flan, it is rich, silky and made to perfection, it requires pretty dark caramel to offset the sweetness let’s check out the recipe of Cuban flan:
Ingredients Required:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 can or 14 ounces of condensed milk
- 1 can or 12 ounces of evaporated milk
- 3 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3 tsp of vanilla extract
Number Of Servings: 6
Nutrition Fact: One Slice Of Cuban Flan Contains 219 Calories, 18 Grams Carbohydrates, 5 Grams Fat And 5 Grams Protein.
Instructions To Make Cuban Flan:
Step 1 – Preheat the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit
Step 2 – To melt the sugar take a small pan and place it on a medium heat, add the sugar and stir it frequently until it turns into a dark caramel, the procedure takes approx 9 to 10 minutes to give dark caramel syrup, keep a close watch on the caramel syrup to make sure it does not burn, swirl pan after you remove the caramel from the heat as it will keep cooking.
Step 3 – Pour the caramel in a baking dish and keep it aside
Step 4 – Take all ingredients condensed milk, evaporated milk, whole eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk it nicely, pour the mixture on the caramel syrup which is kept aside, fill the baking dish with warm water halfway up the sides of the base of the flan pan and gently place it in the oven.
Step 5 – Bake the Flan for 15 minutes until the center jiggle slightly when shaken. Remove the dish from the oven and let it cool down completely and refrigerate it for 2 hours.
Step 6 – To serve this exotic delicacy, place a serving plate on the top of the dish and invert it, shaking it a bit to release the flan onto the plate, you will find liquid caramel dripping down the sides of the flan.
5How Is Chocolate Flan Made?
Chocolate is most preferably liked in several desserts as it is delicious, versatile and easy to make. Chocolate dessert after a meal is a sure fancy thing to impress your family and friends. Flan is a custard dessert with a layer of caramel sauce, which is most preferably prepared in Latin America. You can add different ingredients to create different flavors to make a coconut flan, add coconut milk to prepare pineapple flan, add pineapple and for chocolate flan add chocolate.
To make chocolate flan pie you need below mentioned ingredients
- ½ cup sugar
- 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
- 15 oz evaporated milk (1 can)
- 12 oz sweetened condensed milk (1 can)
- 5 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Step 1 – It’s an easy recipe of cooking chocolate flan preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Step 2 – Take a small saucepan and place it on a medium-flame heat, add the sugar and stir it constantly until it melts and turns golden brown.
Step 3 – Pour the caramel syrup into an 8 inch round dish and swirl the melted sugar around the bottom and the sides of the pan to coat it perfectly.
Step 4 – To prepare an egg mixture, add chocolate and evaporated milk to the microwavable bowl, place it in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir the milk and chocolate together, continue heating the milk for 30 seconds at a time, keep stirring it until the chocolate is completely melted.
Step 5 –  In your blender, combine chocolate milk, mix sweetened condensed milk,  eggs, cinnamon and Vanilla extract and blend it.
Step 6 – Pour the mixture into the 8 inch pan with the caramel layer, prepare a water bath by filling the outer dish with hot water, place your mixture dish in water bath and bake it for 40 minutes until a table knife inserted in the middle comes out clean, cool it down on a wire rack for thirty minutes and place it in the refrigerator for 4 hours to cool completely before removing the pan.
6How To Make Flan Less Sweet?
Flan pie is a classy dessert loved by people of all ages, one cannot ignore the dessert when served, but if you are health conscious you must learn how to make less sweet flan. Below is summarized the basic recipe of making a light version of flan, let’s check it out.
Use Whole Foods instead of using sweetened condensed milk or other sweeteners.
Less Sweet, Easy Flan Recipe Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole milk
- 3 eggs
- ¼ tsp. stevia powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 tsp. of maple syrup
Recipe To Make Flan Less Sweet
Step 1 – Heat the milk in a saucepan just to boil.
Step 2 – Take eggs, crack them and beat them in a bowl slowly add half of the hot milk to eggs to temper, then add egg and milk mixture back to the saucepan with milk. Stir it constantly to see bubbles forming, remove it from the heat, add stevia and vanilla. Pour the batter in the dish and place it in a large water bath dish.
Step 3 – Place the dish in a preheated oven (350 degree) for 50 minutes.
Step 4 – Remove it from the oven, let it cool and refrigerate it for 4 hours.
Step 5 – When flan pie is ready to serve, pour 1 tsp. Maple syrup on the top.
Why Is Flan Cooked In A Water Bath?
The most important key of the cooking flan is to bake it in a water bath as it regulates the temperature and distributes the heat around the flame and also takes care that the eggs do not curdle in the mixture.
What Makes A Good Flan?
While cooking any dish you need a lot of patience and ingredients, a good flan must be soft, creamy, silky, smooth and flavorful, the caramel sauce must be a rich golden in color, make sure the caramel doesn’t give the smell of being burnt.
To prepare a good flan, make sure the mixture does not have many chunks and less bubbles must be introduced for great batter.
Do not whisk the mixture roughly, be gentle, don’t forget to sieve the mixture to avoid chunks.
To make a good flan pie do not cook it at a high temperature, be gentle with the heat, go low and slow.
Use a water bath to cook the flan so that the sides don’t get cooked before the center.
Cooking a nice flan requires patience, do not overcook it as it may get burnt easily, cooking caramel perfectly is also very important if you don’t cook it properly it may form crystals.
How Long Can You Cook Flan In A Water Bath?
A water bath is simply a pan of hot water placed in the oven with the flan batter. Water bath is also known as bain-marie. It makes the flan more delicate. Longevity of a water bath in an oven depends on the preparation time required by a dish to get cooked perfectly. In the oven, a water bath, keeps baking custard and protects from overheating, and on the stovetop, it is also a process of warming any dish without constant attention.
Bottom Line
Flan is a super delicate dessert, cook it perfectly with the above mentioned recipe. It’s an easy to cook dessert perfect for every moment. Enjoy your baked delicacy with friends and family.