Leche Flan

Chris Noxz

August 24, 2022

I recently had some friends and family over for a visit. For dessert, I made a Filipino dessert called Leche Flan, consisting of three main ingredients. Made with egg yolks, condensed milk, and cream, Filipino Leche Flan is rich in both flavour and consistency, topped with a sugary caramel syrup.

Image flan.png

Many use evaporated milk instead of cream, but I like it on the heavier side. It is also common to steam the flan in a steamer, but I prepare it in a bain-marie (a hot water bath in the oven). It takes time, but the result is amazing.

  • Preparation time: 15 min
  • Cooking time: 2 hours
  • Cooling time: 2-4 hours (best served the day after)
  • Servings: 4-6 people

Ingredients

  • 10 large egg yolks
  • 1 can of condensed milk (about 400 g)
  • 1 can of cream (the same volume as the condensed milk)
  • 2 dl water
  • 3 dl sugar
  • 0.5 dl syrup
  • 0.5 dl brown sugar

Directions

First, start with the caramel syrup. Pour the water, sugar, syrup, and brown sugar into a saucepan and stir it while heating it on the stove. Mix and cook until the syrup mix creates a bead when dropped into a cold glass of water. While hot, pour the syrup mix into an oven-safe pot or something to later cook the flan in.

The next thing is to prepare the flan batter. Start by separating the egg yolks from the egg whites. Save the egg whites for another recipe if you like. Place the 10 egg yolks in a bucket and break them with a spoon or something to stir with. Empty the can of condensed milk into the bucket. Pour some cream into the same can up to the rim, and then pour it into the bucket as well. Stir everything into a homogeneous mix. When the syrup mix has hardened, the flan batter can be poured on top of it.

Now place the oven-safe pot into a larger oven-safe container that can be filled with water, surrounding the pot. Place the container into an oven that has been preheated to around 100 °C for about 2 hours. This is so that the bain-marie process creates a gentle heat around the flan and results in uniform cooking.

After 2 hours, the flan can be placed at room temperature to cool down, to later be stored in a fridge. When the flan is cold, it can be flipped upside down on a plate and hopefully slid out of the pot. If not, help it along with a knife around the sides.

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