Flan!

Ah, one of life's greatest mysteries, always wanting what you can't have. 

When I'm flooded with work, all I can ever think about is the stuff I would be able to accomplish if I only had the free time. Of course, when I have loads of free time, what happens? Netflix. 

Okay so to break away from my marathons of random shows (because the ones I'm truly addicted to are on hiatus!) and give my eyes a rest and wake my brain up from its deep slumber, I decided to head into the kitchen and try something new, flan!

Honestly it felt like I was making an upside down creme brulee, minus the sugar torch at the end. It was actually a nice little experiment, simple and distracting enough. The version I played with was very rich. I'm thinking of flipping the cream and milk quantities next time and see how that goes. 

The Perfect Flan
from epicurious.com

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup of water
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
•  7 tbsp of sugar

Procedures:

1. In a medium sauce pan, simmer the cream, milk, salt, and vanilla bean over medium heat. Remove and steep for 30 minutes
2. Meanwhile in another sauce pan, over low heat combine the sugar and water, stir until sugar is dissolved. Increase to high heat and without stirring cook until sugar turns amber color (about 10 minutes, watch it as it gets close because the sugar is extremely hot, even if you turn the heat off, it continues to cook) Once its done, quickly transfer the sugar to the ramekins and tilt to get the bottoms to be well coated.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk sugar, eggs, and yolk together until blended. Slowly whisk into cream mixture. Pour mixture through a sieve into the ramekins.
4. Place the ramekins into a water bath making sure the water is halfway up the sides of the ramekins. **The flans will bake in the water bath, make sure it is bath is in an oven safe pan.
5. Bake for about 40 minutes at 350F or until flan is gently set. Transfer into a cooling rack and allow to cool for about 2 hours. Chill overnight in the refrigerator.