Ingredients

• Caramel
  • 3 tablespoons of sugar
• Custard
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 can of evaporated milk (12 fl oz / 350 mL)
  • 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14 oz / 400 g)
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla (imitation) extract
  • (OPTIONAL) A slice of your favorite cheese pie cheese. My mom likes queso fresco. Just for the hint of cheescake.

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven 350°F / 180°C.

2. Heat and stir the sugar. Heat skillet on high and pour in the sugar. As soon as the skillet is hot, stir and never stop for dear life or the sugar will burn and get crackly in some places, ruining your beautiful caramel.

   Careful while you stir, if the liquified sugar bounces off and touches you, it hurts like hell.

   When about half the caramel is watery, turn off the temperature (still stirring).

3. Pour the caramel into the mold. Once the whole thing is liquid, it'll start browning. Take it off the heat entirely while still stirring, and once it starts to bubble, pour it into the molds.

4. Spread the caramel. Do not touch the mold with your bare hands, it will get hot once the liquid is inside, but the caramel will harden soon, so grab oven mitts or some rags.

   Tilt the mold around until the bottom and part of the sides are coated in caramel.

   Tip: Boil water in the caramelized dirty dishes to clean them. Don't touch the pan or caramel; you'll probably notice it will start to sizzle as soon as water hits it—it's 'cause it super hot.

5. Combine and blend eggs, milks, and vanilla. Much more forgiving, less than a minute to do it. If you have the cheese, blend it in as well. Just make sure it all becomes one homogenous mix of eggy milk.

6. Pour mix into mold. Don't be afraid if you hear the caramel cracking, that's how you know it's some good flan (thats a fib, but Ratatouille is a great movie).

7. Prepare el Baño María. Or as some losers may call it, the bain-marie. Place the mold inside a bigger oven-safe dish and fill the bigger dish about half-way with water. Could do boiling water, but I find this makes the transfering of the liquids to the oven all the more terrifying.

8. Place molds in oven and bake for an hour. Careful not to spill. Use the middle rack.

   I found a recipe that told me to bake for an hour and 45 minutes once, but I don't think it actually takes that long. I mean, it's an oven going at 350°F. That's like baking a normal cake.

   Tip: To tell if flan is baked well:

   • Do the fork/toothpick test: poke it in the center, if the pick comes out clean, it's done.
   • If you move the rack and the flan doesn't move, it's done.
   • If you move the rack and the flan kinda sinks, you can turn off the oven, maybe wait a few minutes.
   • If you move the rack and the flan moves like pudding, definitely leave it for a while more and check in half an hour later.

   If you can see a film of brownish flan on top, it's done! My mom likes to eat this part, but I think it's gross.

9. Cool flan. Put hot stuff on something hot-proof, such as the sink. You can put some ice in the water to cool it, or better yet replace it with cool water and put ice in that, to help speed up the cooling process.

   Can be kept in mold until ready to eat. In fact, my mom is very insistent that it needs to be chilled completely (left in the fridge for another hour at least and it can only be put in the fridge after it's cooled down) before it's ready to eat. Sometimes we'll throw it in the freezer to chill it faster.

10. Finally, serve flan. If flan is hard stuck to the mold, use a knife or a toothpick to unstick it. Ideally, the caramel should have prevented the flan from sticking at the bottom, but nobody's perfect.

    To serve, get an appropriately sized plate and flip the mold over it so that when the flan drops, we may see the delicious caramelled top in all its glory. Enjoy!