Puerto Rican Flan

Flan

Flan is as Puerto Rican as the coqui*. It is made with eggs and milk. Although flan is made in many different flavors, like pineapple, chocolate, etc., the one that’s a favorite around the island, in my opinion, is the vanilla flan. In Puerto Rico if you go to any bakery, store or supermarket, you will for sure find flan there. Flan is one of the most popular desserts in the island.

Flan made in a rectangular pan

To make flan you will need to prepare a caramel first. This caramel will be poured in a pan, cooled, and topped with the flan mixture. Then flan will be baked in baño de maria ** (bain marie) I’ll explain what this is at the bottom of this page. Making a flan requires hardly any time or hard work; however, the baking and refrigeration periods take time, that’s why it needs to be made ahead.

The following recipe was given to me by a very good Puerto Rican friend of mine, Johanna. She makes the best flan and this is her recipe.

*Coqui is a tiny frog that lives in the island and invigorates the evenings with its singing. The coquies begin to sing when the sun goes down at dusk. They sing all night long until dawn, ko-kee, ko-kee, ko-kee (hence the name)…that’s music to my ears!

**Bain marie or (baño de maria) means, a large pan that is filled with hot water. A smaller pan that contains food is set in the large pan to cook food slowly, or sometimes to keep food warm.

INGREDIENTS

For flan

Instructions

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.

Caramel

Prepare the caramel by combining 1 ½ cups of sugar and water in a non-stick saucepan.

Let the sugar absorb the water.

Turn on heat to low.

Let the sugar dissolve and caramelize. Do not let it burn.

When the sugar has caramelized (turned light golden brown), immediately pour into the metal baking pan.

Swirl the caramel around the pan quickly, as to cover the surface.

Set aside to cool.

After the pan has cooled down, set it in the larger pan.

Flan Mixture

Beat eggs lightly.

Add the evaporated milk.

Add the condensed milk

Add the sugar

Add vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Blend well all these ingredients.

Pour mixture to the cooled, caramelized pan that is inside the larger pan.

Add hot water to the larger pan (fill it to about 1-inch up from the bottom of the pan) {bain marie}.

Bake for 2 hours.

After 2 hours check for doneness by inserting the tip of a thin knife, or a toothpick in the middle of the flan. If the knife comes out wet that means that it needs to cook a little longer. If the knife or the toothpick comes out clean, that means it’s done.

Also, if during baking (and this depends on your oven) you see that the flan is getting too dark on the top, cover lightly with foil, until the two hour elapses.

Remove from oven and let cool on your counter on a wire rack.

Once the flan has cooled down (about 45 minutes) cover lightly with plastic wrap and transfer it to the refrigerator without removing it from the pan.

Let it stand in the refrigerator 2-3 hours or preferable overnight.

Bring the flan out from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap

If desired, you might flip the flan upside down:

Remove flan from pan by placing a plate on top of the pan (face-to-face), and carefully flip over the flan.

Carefully slide the pan off away from the flan.

At this point your flan will be turned up side down, and you will see the caramel covering the flan.

You might also want to leave it in the pan without flipping it and cut and serve it like you would a cake. This is how my friend does it. I prefer flipping it. Ultimately, it's up to you.

Serve and enjoy.