Flan Recipe – A Mexican Caramel Custard Dessert

We’re all about that good food and of course good desserts right?! Today we wanted to share how to make flan! It is a traditional Mexican dessert, mostly described as a caramel custard.

Flan is a dessert that we grew up on. On both sides of our families, flan is made and brought to all the parties or celebrations. When I was younger, I didn’t really like flan. I thought the texture was weird, and I was unsure of what it was. As I grew up and the flan was still around, I decided at one our family gatherings, that I would taste it. That’s when my life was changed for the better. Flan is delicate, light, flavorful and oh so delicious. I mean if you haven’t tried flan you are missing out!! The taste alone is something so different and not your typical cheesecake or cake or jello. Flan is its own and it really is a one of a kind dessert!

Since we are now far away from family and all the family parties, we decided we would try our take on a flan recipe. And as we began searching through different recipes we realized how to make flan is so easy and requires a very minimal amount of ingredients! I love recipes that are short and don’t require so much work because then it takes less time to prepare, and leaves more time for eating and enjoying it the FLAN! This flan recipe only has 5 ingredients!!! 5 ingredients!!!!

Flan Recipe

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 5 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. 1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, then put your sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. You know that glossy yummy glaze that flan has on top? That is this delicious caramel that will be made with sugar! This caramel will take a little bit of babysitting, so make sure you watch it well. Start to stir the sugar around every few minutes so it is all evenly distributed. It’ll start to turn brown and the sugar will begin to liquify. Once it starts to crumble up, keep stirring and stirring it. Eventually, the sugar will turn into a beautiful caramel glaze.
   2. While the sugar is turning into caramel, begin making the custard for your flan. Add all of the rest of your ingredients into your blender. Eggs, heavy cream, vanilla, and sweetened condensed milk. Blend on high for about 1 minute! This takes hardly any time at all, so quick!
   3. As the glaze begins to form grab your baking dish (either a round or rectangular 1 1/2 quart dish) and pour the caramel into the bottom of the pan. Twist the pan around so the entire bottom is coated with the caramel.
   4. Then pour your custard mixture over the caramel in your baking dish.
   5. Place your baking dish into a larger sheet pan and add in some hot water about 1 inch up.
   6. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Ours took the full 60 mins and you want to make sure the flan has set is no longer jiggly. We noticed ours started to brown a little bit so at 10 minutes left we covered the flan with some foil so it wouldn’t burn.
   7. As soon as your flan has set, take it out of the oven and immediately out of the hot water to cool.
   8. You want your flan to be completely cooled before slicing. We also prefer to refrigerate our flan until we cut and eat it. The refrigeration helps it to cool and set up more firmly.
   9. Once its all cooled you are ready to dig in!!

Warning: Stir caramel at your own risk, haha. It’s possible that you may burn your eye in the process.  It was such a freak thing! But yes, I burned my eye and now it’s black and swollen. Some may think I was in a fight, haha so we’ll stick to that story instead, lol.

We hope you try out this simple flan recipe and let us know what you think! We love sharing authentic desserts that are close to home and we hope this flan sweetens up any gathering you may have and have your guests in awe! There are so many other simple and quick desserts that we think you should try: our Buñuelos or Hojarascas are so yummy! For a warmer treat, try our Arroz con Leche that is wonderfully spiced and warms the heart!