An Amber Emblem of Love

When I think about food, I think of memories. There’s the smell of fresh garlic sizzling in a pan on Saturday mornings, the shells of garbanzo beans floating in water like shedded summer skins. But one that stands out in its amber emblem of love is leche flan.

Con Cuidado

When my Abuelita lived with us, she would prepare a leche flan (and yes, just one) for Christmas Eve every year. She would spend the night before carefully and tenderly whisking eggs and milk, caramelizing sugar in a pan.

When I was around eleven years old, she asked me to help her make the Christmas flan (a Filipino/Spanish caramel custard), a privilege and a memory I wish I had absorbed more completely.

She showed me how it’s imperative to not touch the sugar as it caramelizes, to pay attention to how long you whisk the eggs. “Con cuidado,” she told me, as she guided my hands in coating the pan with the caramel. I remember moving the pan faster than what she instructed, impatient with the process and being pulled away from sister and brother playing in the other room. My Abuelita was quick to scold me for my carelessness. And now, I recoil at the thought of not savoring those extra seconds patience would have given me with her. 

But despite my rushing, the flan sat on a cake stand on the Christmas dessert table, unrivaled and (quite literally on a pedestal) above the other confections. 

Coating the pan with caramel has become my favorite part of the process. And whenever I see leche flan, I always think of her – deceptively simple but luxurious and rich, a symbol of patience and cultures (my Abuelita’s parents moved from central Spain to the Philippines, and leche flan is a signature dessert of both countries). If cooked too fast or too long, the flan will turn from silk to rubber, a result of the flan’s stubbornness and defiance (two beguiling yet beautiful qualities of every Spanish woman). 

I haven’t made a flan that could hold a candle to my Abuelita’s, and I don’t ever want to. But I hope you take the time to play patience with this recipe, and I hope when you try it you can taste my Abuelita’s Spanish stubbornness, her Filipino nature to love. 

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Leche Flan

A simple yet luxurious dessert that's a holiday staple in my family and my Abuelita's favorite dessert!

Servings 1 9" flan

Ingredients

for the caramel

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water

for the custard

• 6 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 325°F.
• Carefully place the sugar in the center of a sauce pan. Pour the water and corn syrup over the sugar, making sure not to get sugar on the sides of the pan (see note). Cook over high heat and do not touch until the sugar starts to caramelize and turn an amber color. 
• Once it reaches a dark amber color, remove from heat and pour into a flan mold, 9" glass pie dish, or individual ceramic ramekins, carefully moving the vessel to coat the bottom and sides.
• Beat the eggs and add the milk. Stir in the condensed milk, zest, vanilla, and salt. 
• Put the flan pan in a roasting pan then add the custard.
• Add boiling water to the roasting pan to half way up the flan (see note).
• Bake at 325°F for 40 minutes, checking the doneness by jiggling the pan. If it moves like set jello and an inserted knife comes out clean, it's done!
• Let the flan cool in water bath to room temperature and refrigerate for 2 hours. After chilled, run knife around the edge and flip onto a plate!

Notes

• Cooking the flan in a water bath helps ensure the flan cooks evenly. 
• If there are holes running through the flan and it tastes rubbery, it's over-baked.
• Stirring the sugar before it caramelizes will cause the caramel to seize.
• To clean your sauce pan, soak it in hot or boiling water.