#58_LECHE FLAN or CUSTARD

This recipe was given to me by my friend, Josie, from Manteca who has been raving about it for months. So I finally gave it a try. I made a couple of additions to the caramel ingredients though and one of which is the maple syrup which gives the carmel a different flavor.

I experimented the recipe 2 ways to see which way is best.

1. BAIN MARIE

A bain marie or water bath consists of 2 pans, a larger pan to be filled with water and a smaller pan in which the custard is in. I used a 9"x7"x3" pyrex dish. The height of the pyrex dish is good enough so the water will not splash into the custard when baking.

I learned this trick from my mother to test if a leche flan has a GOOD STRUCTURE: when you pick up a piece of leche flan with a tooth pick and holds up its shape the custard has a good, strong structure. Needless to say if it falls apart even before you pick it up, something went wrong in the process.

Recipe for the CARAMEL:

1/3 cup sugar

1 tblsp. pure maple syrup

1 tsp. karo syrup

Recipe for the CUSTARD:

12 egg yolks

1 can evaporated milk

1 can condensed milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup white sugar

PROCEDURE:

1) In a sauce pan, combine the sugar, maple syrup and karo syrup and cook over medium heat until the sugar is melted and mixture becomes thick enough to coat the dish.

2) Pour the syrup into the pan or dish and tilt it around to coat bottom and about 2-3 inches up the sides.

3) Set aside and make the custard mixture.

CUSTARD:

4) Mix together the evap milk and condensed milk

5) With a wire whisk, beat the egg yolks and stir them into the milk. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Mix thoroughly.

6) Pour the mixture through a sieve into the prepared dish

7) Let the mixture sit in the fridge until bubbles are gone, about an hour.

8) Heat oven to 350 degrees.

9) Bake the custard in baine marie for 50 minutes to 1 hour or till tooth pick inserted comes out clean

10) Let cool. Best eaten after it has been refrigerated for few hours.

Note: This is a very good recipe indeed!!

2. STEAMING

Ahh, I will never use the steaming method again. It is a lot of work to steam leche flan as I had to bring out my 14 inch steamer then put some cloth under the lid so the steam won't drip on to the steaming flan, etc,etc.

I was disappointed with the result from steamimg, it is not as good as the one baked in Bain-Marie. Try both method and be the judge!!