My Grandmother's Cuban Flan

[fmw]

There is no category for custards and pudding so I put this here. Flan is a well known Spanish custard with a caramelized sugar topping. During WWII in Cuba milk was hard to come by so some enterprising person developed a flan made with canned milk. It is so good I prefer it to the more traditional flan recipes.

Put a 9" glass pie plate with 1/3 cup of sugar in it in an oven and bake until the sugar is liquid and caramelized to a light brown color. Remove pie pan and set it aside to cool. When cool the sugar will be hard glaze on the pan with cracks in it.

Now mix up the custard:

1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
any other ingredients you may want to use such as lemon zest, or raisins (optional)

Pour the custard into the cooled pie pan and return it to the oven. Bake at 350 for 20 or 30 minutes. Remove the pan, run a knife along the edge of the custard to separate it from the pan. Turn the whole thing upside down on a plate and remove the pan. What was a hard glaze of caramelized sugar in the cooled pan is now liquid caramelized sugar that will thicken a little when refrigerated but will stay liquid.

Hope you enjoy it.

 

[powerplantop]

I like the idea of making the caramel in the pie pan, I have never done it that way.

 

[CraigC]

My wife makes good flan. She isn't Cuban but her first husband was. My stepdaughter is half Cuban, but I speak and understand more Spanish than she does, which isn't much, except for the insults.

When I was a teen, I got invited to several quinceaneras for some of my friends. Even though I ate the cake, I was never fond of it. Way too much sugary filling, usually pineapple and the frosting had a strange texture for my taste. I really love the guava and cheese filled pastries though.

 

[fmw]

Pasta de guayaba with cream cheese is one of the great food pairings in the world. I even make pastries out of it besides just eating it as is. My mother used to make empanadas out of the pair.

 

[fmw]

I like the idea of making the caramel in the pie pan, I have never done it that way.

Now you know how they do it in Cuba.

 

[Roll_Bones]

Pasta de guayaba with cream cheese is one of the great food pairings in the world. I even make pastries out of it besides just eating it as is. My mother used to make empanadas out of the pair.

As a kid, I hated guava and cream cheese. Could not see why anyone would. But today, if I had the chance, I would want to taste it again.

My Dad made flan the same way you do, but he made his in a double boiler.
I will never forget that shape. I hated the outside "caramel" but adored the custard inside.
I have never made flan.

 

[fmw]

As a kid, I hated guava and cream cheese. Could not see why anyone would. But today, if I had the chance, I would want to taste it again.

My Dad made flan the same way you do, but he made his in a double boiler.
I will never forget that shape. I hated the outside "caramel" but adored the custard inside.
I have never made flan.

Wow, you are the first person I have heard with a distaste for guava and cream cheese. Next time I make my guava and cream cheese pastry, I'll take some pictures and post it up. I use puff pastry. My wife goes nuts for it.

 

[Whiskadoodle]

When Jr. was a wee lad, they studied other countries as part of one of their classes. Then make a dish representing their chosen country. He made flan and brought to school. Somewhere I have a Xerox copy of his recipe, in his handwriting. Can't find where it's filed in my trusty recipe box, although I know I still have it. So don't feel bad if DC's filing system is lacking a dessert category.

Does the caramel run off the sides of the serving dish when you tip it out of the pie plate? I know when I make flan in custard cups, the caramel spreads out on the dessert plate. Maybe your recipe has a better consistency. No matter. I have a rimmed serving dish. Your recipe looks good enough to lick the plate.

 

[fmw]

When Jr. was a wee lad, they studied other countries as part of one of their classes. Then make a dish representing their chosen country. He made flan and brought to school. Somewhere I have a Xerox copy of his recipe, in his handwriting. Can't find where it's filed in my trusty recipe box, although I know I still have it. So don't feel bad if DC's filing system is lacking a dessert category.

Does the caramel run off the sides of the serving dish when you tip it out of the pie plate? I know when I make flan in custard cups, the caramel spreads out on the dessert plate. Maybe your recipe has a better consistency. No matter. I have a rimmed serving dish. Your recipe looks good enough to lick the plate.

Hopefully you will give it a shot and come back with a report.

 

[Roll_Bones]

Wow, you are the first person I have heard with a distaste for guava and cream cheese. Next time I make my guava and cream cheese pastry, I'll take some pictures and post it up. I use puff pastry. My wife goes nuts for it.

I doubt pictures will change my mind. I don't like figs either.
My sister and brother both did not like guava and cream cheese. Actually we liked cream cheese. It was the guava we did not like.
I am willing to give it another shot. But I grew up with it and i know what it tastes like.

Does the caramel run off the sides of the serving dish when you tip it out of the pie plate? I know when I make flan in custard cups, the caramel spreads out on the dessert plate. Maybe your recipe has a better consistency. No matter. I have a rimmed serving dish. Your recipe looks good enough to lick the plate.

I remember the flan sat in a pool of caramel.

 

[CraigC]

I've seen people lay a block of guava paste on top of a block of cream cheese and eat it just like that.

 

[fmw]

That's what I do except I slice the blocks down to an appropriate size.

 

[medtran49]

RB, I don't like guava either.