Foodie Friday: Harvest and Thanksgiving let's feast!

Hey everyone!  Today Nancy from Nancy Blokland Pottery is going to share a delicious recipe with us!

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I love food and some of you know, I was a Cuban cook for some years, and learned a lot of good recipes along the way.  We are coming into what I call feasting season, October to December.  This is a great recipe with even a pumpkin variation to add to make it seasonal.  You are sure to impress your guests with this one, if you call it CREME CARAMEL.  Enjoy! Disfruta!!

Flan, or Creme Caramel

Ingredients:
1 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Water
4 Eggs, beaten
1 (14 oz. can) Sweetened, condensed milk
2 cups Whole Milk or Water
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
1/2 Cup Sugar

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place the 1 cup sugar and water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar.  Place over medium heat and boil the sugar, without stirring, until it just starts to tun a honey brown, around 10-15 minutes.

2. Remove the caramelized sugar from heat an dpour into a 9-inch cake pan or in equal amounts into each of the 6 individual ramekins, swirling to coat the bottom.  You may not need all the sugar.  Place the cake pan or ramekins in a baking pan large enough to hold them without touching.

3. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, condensed milk, whole milk or water; vanilla and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth.  Pour into the cake pan or into each of the ramekins.

4. Fill the baking pan wiht enough warm water to come about 2/3 of the way up the sides of the container.  Place in the over and cook until a knife inserted into the center of the custard comes out clean-anywhere form 45 minutes to over an hour.  Do not overcook your flan or it may curdle.

5. Remove the custard(s) from the water bath and chill well.  Run a knife around the edges of the custard, invert over a serving dish and serve.

Variations:

• Flan de Cafe (Coffee flan): add 3-4 teaspoons of instant coffee granules to the milk-egg mixture.
• Flan de Coco (Coconut flan): substitute 2 cups of coconut milk for the sweetened condensed milk or simply stir 1/2 cup shredded coconut into the milk and egg mixture.
• Flan de Pina (Pineaplle flan): Makes 4 servings: Carmelize the sugar and pour into containers as above.  For the liquid, boil one cup of pineapple juice with 1 cup sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid is reduced to about 1 cup.  Allow the juice to cool, then beat in 4 eggs until smooth.  Pour into individual ramekins and proceed with the recipe.  Popular in Puerto Rico
• Pumpkin Flan: increase to 5 eggs and add 1 cup pureed pumpkin, 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp ground ginger

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