Cubans love flan in any shape, size, or flavor. This week we’re cooking a pumpkin flan in honor of American Thanksgiving. This is the creamiest, sweetest, most luxurious pumpkin dessert ever.
There are several tips for making excellent flan
use high quality ingredients
strain the flan mixture to get rid of all the little eggy bits and other yuckies that get in the way of perfect smoothness
cool completely to allow the flan to set up firmly (it helps to make it the day before you need it)
cook in a water bath
follow important, high tech jiggle procedure to loosen the flan from the pan (see detailed instructions in recipe below).
have a tall lipped plate to catch all your caramel. Don’t ask me how I know this.
if you’re taking the flan to a pot luck, wait to unmold it there. That way there’s less of a chance of damaging the beautiful form.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 1 10″ ring | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 70 minutes | 6 hours |
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Cubans love flan in any shape, size, or flavor. This week we’re cooking a pumpkin flan in honor of American Thanksgiving. This is the creamiest, sweetest, most luxurious pumpkin dessert ever.
There are several tips for making excellent flan
use high quality ingredients
strain the flan mixture to get rid of all the little eggy bits and other yuckies that get in the way of perfect smoothness
cool completely to allow the flan to set up firmly (it helps to make it the day before you need it)
cook in a water bath
follow important, high tech jiggle procedure to loosen the flan from the pan (see detailed instructions in recipe below).
have a tall lipped plate to catch all your caramel. Don’t ask me how I know this.
if you’re taking the flan to a pot luck, wait to unmold it there. That way there’s less of a chance of damaging the beautiful form.
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Ingredients
For the caramel:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- pinch cream of tartar
For the flan:
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 5 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 cup sugar
- 15 oz pumpkin puree
- 1/2 vanilla bean , scraped (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch ground allspice
Servings: 10″ ring
Units:
Instructions
For the caramel:
- Add one cup sugar to small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add water and cream of tartar. Cook until light golden brown.
For the flan:
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Put a large lasagna pan in there, half full of water (for a water bath to keep the heat gentle on the flan) In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook some milk and cream with the vanilla bean scrapings.
- Heat everything over medium until the milk is scalded, or just nearly boils. Then, remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, crack 5 eggs into a large bowl as well as two egg yolks. The two egg yolks take this dessert over the edge in creaminess. Ad the sugar and pumpkin puree, cinnamon and allspice. Stir together with the cooled cream mixture. Strain.
- Pour the light caramel into bundt pan, then add the strained custard.
- Bake in water bath for one hour and ten minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
- Let cool and refrigerate about six hours (or overnight). To unmold, run a knife along the top of all edges to break the “seal.” Then – this is very scientific – jiggle the bundt pan from side to side, until the flan begins to wiggle free. Some caramel should ooze up and out when you tip it to the side a little. You might dip the pan into some hot water for a few seconds to help loosen the caramel at the bottom.
- Carefully invert the flan onto a large platter with lip (so the caramel won’t overflow). Enjoy cold!