Dulce de leche Flan

     I really like to try new recipes. It gets my family to try new recipes and expand their palate. Also, it is cheaper to try a lot of foods at home then out to eat. Plus, what if we order something new and then don't like it? My husband will not share his plate. My oldest daughter will reluctantly share her food. It depends on my oldest son's mood if he will share. 

     Last year, I made dulce de leche for the first time and my youngest daughter loves it. So, I decided to make flan with dulce de leche. This custard is really good. I made them individual size so we each could have our own.

Dulce de leche Flan
1 1/2 cup dulce de leche
3 eggs
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups (12 oz.) milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.
2. Coat the bottom and the sides of 5 small ramekins (about 5.5 oz) with 1 cup of dulce de lech.  
3. Place the ramekins into a large glass baking dish. 
4. In a large bowl, whisked the eggs.
5. Add the condensed milk, milk, and vanilla extract to the whisked eggs until smooth.
6. Pour the egg mixture evenly into the ramekins.
7. Carefully pour the boiling water into the glass dish to make a water bath. Make sure no water splashes into the egg mixture.
8. Bake the flan for about 45 minutes. The flan should be set.
9. Remove the individual ramekins from the water bath and allow to cool completely.
10. Run a knife around the edges of each ramekins and invest the flan onto individual dishes (or to save dishes serve in the ramekins).
11. Drizzle additional dulce de leche over the flan before serving.

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com.

One year ago..................I made Olive Garden Salad.

Did you already know....
-A savory flan was served by Ancient Romans.
-One Ancient Romans savory flan was eel flan.
-Early recipes of a sweet flan was made with honey instead of sugar.

PPQ: Creme Brulee

I received The Pastry Queen Cookbook last month. The neat thing about finally having the cookbook is I can now participate in the Project Pastry Queen. Each week a member will pick a recipe from the cookbook for us to try.

This weeks pick is Espresso Creme Brulee. Since I already have crazy children, I decided to try the rather sweet variation and top it with bananas instead. My husband helped me make this recipe. This is an awesome recipe. If you are looking for a special dessert, this is the one to try!

Creme Brulee
1/4 cup whole milk
2 3/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean
7 large egg yolks
2/3 cups plus 1/2 cups sugar
1 banana, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Lightly spray 6 six ounce ramekins with cooking spray.
3.  Heat the milk with the cream in a pot over medium-high heat.
4. While the milk is heating, scrap the vanilla bean pod in half and scrap the inside of the pod with a knife. Add the vanilla pod and scraped beans into the heating milk.
5. Bring the milk to a boil and remove immediate from the heat.
6. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until well combined.
7. While whisking continuously, slowly add a little of the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture at a time. 
8. After blending thoroughly, pour the custard through a fine mesh sieve to remove any vanilla pod and any overcooked egg. 
9. Place the ramekins in a baking dish and fill the dish with hot water until it reaches 3/4 up the outside of the ramekins.
10. Fill the ramekins half way with the custard.
11. Carefully, place the dish into the oven without allowing any of the water bath to touch the custard.
12. Bake the ramekins for 1 hour. The custard should just set and jiggle when shaken but not browning or bubbling.
13. Allow the custard to cool for 30 minutes. 
14. Top each custard with a single layer of thinly sliced banana.
15. Top each custard with a thin even layer of sugar. 
16. With a kitchen torch, caramelize the sugar or broil the custard in the oven 4 inches from the flame until sugar is caramelized and lightly browned.
17. Serve immediately. 

Recipe adapted from The Pastry Queen Cookbook.  

Did you already know.................
-Creme brulee is a custard topped with a hard caramel.
-Creme brulee means burnt custard in French.
-The recipe can be found in a 1691 French cookbook by Francois Massialot.