Spanish Flan Recipe

    Okay, for real, I LOVE flan. I love all custard and flan is the best variation there is, in my humble (and correct) opinion. This recipe was surprisingly easy and fun to make. I've never tried making caramel before so felt a bit nervous about it all, but there was no need to fret. Notes at the end.



Spanish Flan (original recipe here) 

1c white sugar*
5 eggs*
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk*
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
    2. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt sugar until liquefied and golden in color*. This should take quite some time, 30-40 minutes. Do not stir until it is mostly liquid. Be very careful towards the end, because it can go from perfectly fine to burned in a few seconds.
    3. Carefully pour hot syrup into a 9 inch round glass baking dish*, turning the dish to evenly coat the bottom and sides. Set aside.
    4. In a large bowl*, beat eggs. Beat in condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla until smooth. Pour egg mixture into baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil.
    5. Bake in preheated oven 60 minutes. Let cool completely*.
    6. To serve, carefully invert cooled dish onto a serving plate with edges.

    *I used 1 1/3c because I... love sugar.
    *Original calls for 3 eggs. If you want the texture to be more firm, use more eggs. I thought 5 was perfect, but some people use far more (like 8).
    *I don't know if any subsitutions would work for custard, but I would try doing 1/2 can sweetened condensed milk and use plain yogurt for the rest to tone it down juuuust a bit.
    *I added a few drops of lemon juice (don't ask me why; I just read that you should and I was cutting a lemon while this was liqufiying, so what the heck).
    *Mine was the wrong size and this totally complicated matters. Try to use the correct dimentions on this one!
    *I mixed everything up in the blender.
    *Best results if left in the fridge overnight.

    Enjoy!