The Best Ever Flan

This was my first attempt at making my own flan, and it was the best one I have ever tasted, and many of my Cuban family members also agreed. It was also very simple and I had all of the ingredients already in my house. This recipe came from one of my coworkers, so thank you Frances!




Ingredients:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 can of evaporated milk
1 block of cream cheese
4 egg yolks
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar on medium until it melts and caramelizes. The sugar will go from brown, to golden and then to red if it burns, so keep stirring and keep it in the golden shade. If there are a few small lumps remaining, that is okay because they will melt in the oven.

2. While the sugar is melting, turn the oven on to 350 and place your 8x8 square or round pie pan in the oven to keep it hot. If the pan is hot, then the caramel will not harden as quickly. Pour the caramel into the hot baking pan, and smooth it around until the bottom is completely coated.



3. As the caramel cools, you can begin making the custard. Blend the two cans of milk, the vanilla and the cream cheese together in the blender. Drop one egg yolk at a time into the blender and blend for a few seconds in between the yolks.

4. Pour the custard mixture into your baking pan. This pan will need a "water bath" for best results, just like most cheesecakes and custard desserts. To do so, simply use a larger lasagna size pan (9x13 or so) and fill it with enough water so that the water line is halfway up the side of the flan.



5. Bake at 350 for an hour. Let it cool for 15 minutes and then place in the fridge to chill for 3 hours or more. To serve, invert the pan with a large plate and shake the pan to release the flan. We didn't do this part, we just ate it from the pan because everyone was too impatient. It got rave reviews and I will be bringing it to every Noche Buena celebration from now on.