The wonderful thing about cleaning up is you find all kinds of things treasures you never knew you had or (in my case – ahem, my wife calls it junk), that you never thought you had. Well we found this treasure of a recipe which was from my mother-in-law who was a wonderful baker. This is her Crème Caramel recipe.
This dish was one of her specialties and let me tell you, it was good! She would constantly revise and tweak until she found the right formula – then she never wavered from the recipe. Her scribbled notes on the recipe itself always spoke of these tweaks. So how do I know what is the last recipe – it always contained in her writing, the words “make this one – best” on it. Now the only problem with this treasured find is that she only listed the ingredients and not the instructions (or maybe we lost the second page) and I know what you are saying – make the caramel, make the custard and bake – how difficult could it be. She’d made it so many times I don’t think she needed to consult instructions – but we did!
When we shared it on our family chat, all her grandkids asked me for the steps. Never having made this before, I thought I should try it first and record what I did. I’ve never made this as we always had excellent versions from both my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law at family gatherings. It seemed redundant for me to do another version. But I must say, this is the bomb and I wanted to share it with you. Looks like a long list of steps, but if you have never made this before, I hope you will appreciate the detail in the steps. If you have done this before, then you know the drill, try it with these quantities – make the caramel, make the custard, bake and flip over onto a rimmed plate.
This will become a new family favorite and one that I know you will enjoy making. Since Christmas Day I have made this twice, the first time as per the recipe below and the second time, I switched the condensed milk for Dulce de Leche. This recipe makes more custard than the 8” round cake tin I used – that’s okay, make a some smaller version with the remainder – you should get at least one ramekin more, perfect for you to sample. Get the booster, wear a good mask, wash your hands, socialize responsibly and above all – be safe! As always – enjoy!!
Ingredients
1 tin condensed milk
3 cups milk (any combination of homogenized, table cream, coffee cream or 35% cream – to make 3 cups in total – don’t use all 35% cream, max 1 cup with 2 cups of 2% milk)
Pinch of salt
6 eggs
1 cup sugar for caramelizing with ¼ cup water and a couple of drops of lemon juice
Directions
1. Heat the oven to 325f and start making the caramel
2. Add the sugar and water to a small pot starting on medium high heat
3. The sugar will start to melt and boil – it will boil clear – don’t stir it, for about 10 minutes on a medium flame – adjust the flame up and down as needed until the edges start to change color
4. Watch carefully as the whole process from perfect to burnt take seconds – burnt = start again
5. Immediately pour into the dish you are using – I used a 8 ½” round cake pan, make sure the caramel covers the entire surface of the bottom – set aside (note this will harden as it cools – perfectly fine)
6. Note – the cake pan will be very hot so have it in a baking dish/frying pan on the counter so you don’t have to move it – I used a 12” frying pan
7. Fill a kettle and bring the water to a boil — you’ll be using this for a bain marie – set aside
8. Whisk eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl – set aside
9. Combine the milk, cream, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally – remove from heat once it starts to simmer
10. While whisking the eggs – start adding ¼ cup of the hot milk mixture whisking constantly – if you don’t, you will have sweetened scrambled eggs
11. Keep adding ¼ cup measures until the mixture is tempered – about 4 x ¼ cup additions
12. Add the balance of the milk slowly while whisking – place a wet a piece of paper towel under the bowl before whisking, it will prevent the bowl from sliding around as you whisk
13. Pour the egg mixture into the pan up to 1 cm or ½” from the top of the tin with the caramel and carefully move the frying pan to the oven, pour the boiled water into the frying pan to come 1/3 of the way up the tin
14. Bake for 45 minutes – check at 40 – insert a toothpick – it should come out clean – there will be a jiggle but that’s hard to define without seeing it, so I prefer a toothpick – if it is browning too much – cover lightly with foil, drop the heat a bit to 310f but you shouldn’t need to.
15. Depending on your oven this could take up to 1 hour
16. If done, remove carefully from oven and allow it to cool on a baking rack
17. When cool, put into the fridge for 3 – 4 hours or overnight
18. To remove from the tin, put the burner on your stove on for 1 minute, then turn it off
19. Place the cake pan on the hot burner and using the tip of a sharp knife cut around the tin – and shake to loosen – you should see the flan move easily in the pan – takes about 30 seconds on the burner to loosen the caramel
20. Place a rimmed cake plate on top, and carefully flip over in one smooth motion
21. Place on the counter and shake the tin gently to drop the flan (listen for the plop) – caramel will flow onto the custard and it’s picture taking time – devour immediately
Well Why Not! (tips and suggestions)
Instead of condensed milk try this with dulce de leche (pictured below)
Sprinkle Maldon or some other flaky sea salt on top just before serving – you want your guests to see the salt flakes (or at least for the picture)
Change the ratio of whole eggs – use 4 whole and 2 yolks for a richer tasting caramel – but honestly, this version works for me
