Make a flan

This flan is pretty easy to make, but the recipe wasn't complete, so I've rewritten it. Please let me know if you have any difficulty or find errors!

The recipe:

Flan

6 eggs

2 cans of condensed milk

1 cup of 2% (or what you prefer) milk

1/2 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon almond extract (or any flavor you like)

Ingredient amounts can be halved if you prefer a thinner flan (such as for cooking in a pie pan). This amount of ingredients filled my dish to the rim and took steady hands to transfer into the 9x13 and then into the oven. DO Be careful not to burn yourself.

Using a nonstick small saucepan, melt sugar over medium heat until a dark caramel color. Some people might prefer a lighter caramel. The darker color has a stronger taste, which we like.

I don't have a flan mold or even know what one is, so I have used a round 2 quart casserole dish. This Christmas, I used a smallish glass oven proof bowl, the old fashioned kind with a handle on each side lengthwise, formed into the top similar to a long spout. Pour the melted sugar (caramel topping) into the bowl, and swirl it around evenly to coat. It will harden quickly.

In food processor, combine 6 eggs, condensed milk, regular milk, and extract. Blend well. It may be a challenge for your food processor to hold this much, and may need to be blended half at a time. Pour into prepared dish set into baking pan, such as 9x13 pan, filled with warm to hot water. 

Bake at 325-350F for about an hour, or until custard is set. To test for doneness, color should be light golden brown and slightly crusty on top. Knife inserted in center of dish should come out clean.

Let cool, refrigerate til ready to serve.

To serve, unmold onto serving plate or simply serve scooped from the casserole dish. Both ways have been a hit in my family.

To unmold, simply run knife around edges to unstick flan from dish and invert onto serving plate. Flan should slide right out. It will then stick to serving plate as it lands, so be sure you have it land where you want it. You can then spoon or pour any remaining caramel sauce on top of flan and serve.

Variation: This is a dish that lends itself easily to different variations. Try using vanilla extract and adding sweet potatoes pureed in the food processor. My sister's favorite holiday dessert!

2010 Christmas Day

I spent the day with my sweetie and his son, and some time with kids and grandkids. 

Wonderful dinner, Krystal and Will, thank you oh so much for feeding our tummies with food and our souls with companionship, and the grandkids are always so much fun with their bright smiles and brighter attitudes toward everything!

Alhena showing me the rooms in her dollhouse, and they were having a party, and see her pretty dress and she had a headband with a bow in her hair, she just sparkled!

And Z, "gramma, come help me, gramma, train!", distracted as he tried to put the tracks back together and get me in the dining room where he was playing, at the same time.

It really warms my heart how happy they both are to see me whenever I'm there.

There was the time Krystal walked into the kitchen, and there was Z, sitting where I had been, very carefully eating the rest of the French Silk Pie I couldn't finish at the time, but planned to finish after the present opening. When the topping was gone from mine, he hopped down from my spot and up into his sister's spot to finish off some whipped topping she'd left behind on her pie.

Uh oh, Alhena is just tall enuff that the corner of the roof of her dollhouse hits her at about eye level, and she bumped into it and came crying to me. I soothed her and told her dad. She'll learn to be more careful.

Z asked me, "All right, Gramma?" Out of the blue. A question we always asked him whenever he might have fallen and hurt himself, and the answer is always the same, a yes. He's always had the cutest little bit of a lisp, almost.

I'm so blessed to be a part of this family. :) Merry Christmas, hope yours was as good as mine. Write it down and hold onto these memories.