Flan (Spanish egg-custard)

This is my 1st recipe. I'll start posting with my most recent recipe. We had a Mexican themed dinner invitation in one of our friend's place. It was an
informal dinner. I started to have lot of interest and urge to bake these days. So I was waiting for an opportunity to try this dessert. So I volunteered to bring this dessert.

Well, this recipe may sound different because I had a whole bunch of Apple sauce (Got from Costco, its true, never go shopping when you are hungry!). Well, I am looking to use it in every thing I can so that I can finish it off. I subscribe to a magazine called 'el Restaurante Mexicano' and they had a wonderful recipe for 'Flan' with bananas and coconut milk. The friend who invited us isn't very fond of smell of eggs so that too inspired me to make this dish in this method. I wanted to camouflage the egg smell and taste as much as possible. I don't like cinnamon too much so I didn't add it. If you like it feel free to add it.

In India, we have a similar dessert called 'Caramel Custard'. Though it may seem similar there are a few more ingredients to this dish.

Flan (Spanish egg-custard)

1 can evaporated milk
1 can condensed milk
1 can Coconut milk
4 whole eggs
½ cup of sugar
1 Small banana
1 cup apple sauce
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Mix-fruit essence or combine banana and mango essence

1 cup sugar (for the caramel)
Melt 1cup sugar in a non-stick pan, over low heat. Keep your eye on it. If it burns you will have to start over. It just needs to melt that's all. Using a non stick pan will cause the caramel to just slip off the pan when pouring and its easier to clean later.

Pour the caramel immediately into a metal pan or ramekins and swirl it around to cover the bottom and sides. Your have to be quick because once it

starts to cool down you don't stand a chance. The caramel should have cooled down before you pour the egg mixture in it.

To make the Flan:

Preheat the oven to 350*F

Blend all ingredients until completely mixed. Pour the flan mixture right into the caramelized pan.

Set the mold in a broiling pan and make a water bath. It had to be placed on the water bath while baking. Once you place the mold in the broiling pan, add hot water slowly until the molds are filled half way up the outer side of the mold or ramekins.

Cook in a 350º oven for 50 min. Place it in the middle so that it cooks evenly. At 40 minutes check to see if it's getting too brown on top. - if so cover loosely with a foil.

Test the flan to see if it's done by inserting a knife in the center. If the flan is still soft, let it cook longer until a knife inserted again comes out clean.

Remove from the oven carefully and let it sit on the counter until it cools. Then cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

To serve it on a plate, loosen the flan using a knife scrapping it off the sides of the molds, and place the plate on top of the mold then carefully flip it over and gently slide the mold off.

Note:

To cool fast, you can layer the tray with ice cubes and water. That is what I did since I didn't have much time to cool it the traditional way.