Coconut Flan

Leche flan (crème caramel, caramel custard) is a staple dessert in most Filipino households. As a young girl I remember helping my aunt make her famously smooth and silky flans, separating the yolks from the whites and ladling the custard into oblong molds called llaneras filled with caramel syrup.

Her meticulous process took all afternoon, and though I love flan, I don't want to spend that much time making them today. After several tries, I came up with a much easier and quicker way of making flan that I think are just as good as her famous ones.

I also came up with a flavored flan by substituting coconut milk for the regular whole milk called for in the usual recipe. The result was a thicker and creamier flan with the rich flavor of coconut. If you don't care for coconut, just use whole milk instead for plain leche flan.

Leche Flan

12 egg yolks
1 can condensed milk
2 cups coconut milk
2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, boil sugar and water together over medium high heat for twenty minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Pour the syrup evenly between two loaf pans or llaneras and cool.

Meanwhile, mix first four ingredients in a blender to make the custard. Strain custard into a large bowl through a fine sieve or cheesecloth. Pour custard into the loaf pans or llaneras with the hardened syrup.

Transfer loaf pans into a bigger pan. Make a bain-marie by filling the bigger pan with enough water to come halfway up the sides of the loaf pans. Loosely cover with aluminum foil and bake until knife inserted in the middle of the flan comes out clean, about one hour. Refrigerate uncovered until cool.

To serve, run a small knife around flan to loosen. Put a serving dish over loaf pan and invert the dish and loaf pan while holding them together firmly. Once inverted, shake loaf pan gently to unmold flan onto dish. Serve plain or garnished with fresh berries.

Makes two flans of 5-6 servings each.

Label(s): Food
Technorati Tags: coconut custard dessert flan food leche flan

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