Our Family Recipes

The first flan I made was a traditional Cuban flan and it was so sweet it hurt my teeth. So I went in search of something that was creamy but less sweet and found this recipe for Orange Flan on Eatingwell.com. However, then I read the Caramel Flan recipe from Once Upon a Chef. I did what any reasonable person would do and combined the two recipes. The result is Orange Bourbon Flan…man.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• zest and juice of 1 orange
• 4 whole eggs
• 1 and 2/3 cups half-and-half
• 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 Tbsp Bourbon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Get organized to make a bain marie (I used a 9″ pie plate and a large roasting pan)
3. Put the sugar into a sauce pan and heat over medium-high until the sugar melts. Don’t stir it, you can swirl the pan to make sure it melts evenly. When the sugar turned the colour of amber remove it from the heat and swirl in a Tbsp of warm water. It’ll spit and bubble so be careful, but keep swirling until it is incorporated (takes about 10-15 seconds).
4. Pour the sugar into the pie plate and swirl around to coat the bottom. It will cool pretty quickly so work fast. Set the pie plate aside and make the flan filling.
5. Whisk the eggs and add the sweetened condensed milk. Continue whisking and add the half-and-half, Bourbon, orange juice and zest. I didn’t bother to strain it, but I suppose you could.
6. Pour the flan mixture into the cooled pie plate.
7. Cover the flan with foil or a pot lid if you have one that fits (I did).
8. Put the flan into the roasting pan and pour enough boiling water into the pan around the pie plate to come at least half way up the sides.
9. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes (or until the sides are set but the middle is still jiggly).
10. Remove from oven, take off the lid and let it cool in the bain marie for an hour.
11. Take the pie plate out of the bain marie and wipe it dry. Cover with plastic warp (or non-plastic wrap of your choice) and pop it in the fridge overnight or up to four days according to the Caramel Flan recipe. I did notice that the Cuban Flan I made actually tasted better a couple of days after it had been in the fridge….cured flan I guess.
12. To unmold the flan, slide a knife (carefully) around the edges of the pan. Cover with an inverted serving dish or plate that is deep enough to hold the caramel that is going to spill over the top when you flip the flan over.
13. Once you’ve got it on the plate scrap any left over loose caramel onto the flan. Some of it may be stuck to the bottom of the pie plate, that’s ok – it happens.
14. To serve, slice the flan and drizzle on some extra caramel.
15. If, and it’s a big if, you have leftover flan, cover it loosely with plastic wrap (or invert a large glass bowl over top) and put it back in the fridge. It’ll keep for up to four days.

Serves 10-12 – a little goes a long way.