Stove-top caramel creme flan recipe, caramel creme flan is a soft and velvety custard topped with caramel sauce, easy to make, delicious and always a success!
You only need very few ingredients to make this classic dessert: milk, eggs, sugar and water. For a richer flan, you can use half milk and half heavy cream.
First you need to make the caramel sauce, cook the sugar and water until it becomes liquid and lightly golden, do not go farther than lightly golden as the caramel can quickly get bitter, then out of the heat add a little more water and pour evenly into your 4 molds. By the time you will pour the vanilla pudding on top, the caramel will have set, it might also not cover the whole bottom of the mold, that is how it should be, whilst the puddings are steaming the caramel will melt again.
Then you will make the custard, again nothing difficult here, whisk your eggs, cook your milk and sugar, pour the milk on your beaten eggs whilst whisking constantly, filter the mixture through a fine mesh sieve so to gather any pieces of cooked eggs and divide the mixture among the 4 molds. Cover each mold with a piece of aluminum foil, this will help the custards to cook evenly and remain smooth at the top
There are different cooking methods, I like to steam my caramel custards into a large pot on the stove, I lay a kitchen towel at the bottom of my pan, fold it in a way that it lays evenly and covers the bottom of the pan, this will help prevent the custards from burning at the bottom, I fill the pot with enough water to cover the bottom quarter of the molds, bring it to a soft boil, it is important that the water remains at a soft boil during the whole steaming process, then I arrange my 4 molds in the pot leaving enough space between them so that the water can circulate in between them. Steam for 18 to 20 minutes, the sides of pudding will be set but the center will be a little soft.
The ingredients given for this recipe make for 4 cups containing 130 ml (4.4 oz.) or about 1/2 cup. You can double the recipe.
If you like this kind of desserts, you might be interested by my Surprise Lemon Pudding or my Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse, click on my "Sweet" category for more sweet treats.
Caramel Sauce:
4 tbsp Sugar + 1 tbsp Water
2 tbsp. water to add once the caramel is done
Pudding Mixture:
2 Eggs
1 cup + 1 tbsp. (250 ml) Milk or half milk/half heavy cream
5 tbsp. Sugar
Some unsalted butter to butter the molds
Utensils: 4 pudding molds 1/2 cup (130ml)
Lightly butter the molds with some soft butter and set aside
Into a small saucepan add the sugar and 1 tbsp. water, cook on medium high heat until the sugar is liquid and slightly golden, remove from the heat and carefully add 2 tbsp. water, caution the mixture will bubble heavily, stir with a spatula and distribute evenly into the 4 molds, set aside
Into a medium bowl, add the two eggs and whisk them keeping the whisk at the bottom of the bowl so as not to create too much foam
Into a small saucepan, on medium high heat, add the milk and sugar stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved, pour the milk mixture onto the eggs whisking constantly, pour the custard into a beaker or jug through a fine mesh sieve to gather any cooked pieces of eggs, remove any foam with a spoon, pour evenly into the 4 molds, cover each mold with a piece of aluminum foil
Into a large pot, lay a kitchen towel at the bottom, pour enough boiling water to cover the bottom quarter of molds, bring the water to a soft boil and keep it at that, arrange the 4 molds into the pot leaving a space between them, cover the pot with a lid and steam for 18 to 20 minutes
Remove the puddings from the water and set aside to cool, I help myself with a slotted flat spatula, chill for 2 to 3 hours
To remove the caramel flans from the molds, run a knife around the sides of molds and tap them lightly against your counter to create an air pocket, then you can invert them onto a plate
Caramel flan is always best served cool
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