Portuguese Flan 2 ways – Flan de Vinho do Porto e Flan de Aniz

This is such an elegant dessert for your next celebration. Flan is very easy to make despite it’s appearance and these two variations on the original flan recipes create a unique taste.

Ingredients:

6 large eggs

3 cups (whole milk)

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 teaspoons either Port Wine or Anisette (Aniz) Liquor

Caramel glaze ingredients:

1 cup sugar

Preparation:

Note:Take your eggs out of the fridge a few hours before you start to get them to room temp or place them in a bowl of lukewarm water for about 20 minutes.

Prepare Caramel glaze first:

Place the sugar in a large heavy skillet. Continue stirring while cooking on medium heat until the sugar melts and begins to turn caramel colored and thickens like corn syrup. (probably 5-8 minutes depending on your burners) If you notice it begin to smoke remove immediately from the burner. If you smell a burned aroma, start over since the syrup will taste bitter. Pour the caramel into a souffle dish and slightly shift the dish side to side to coat the bottom and sides up to 1/2 inch or so. Set aside while you make the flan. You will notice the caramel as hardened which is good.

Prepare custard:

In med bowl, beat the eggs with 1 cup sugar until lemony colored. Meanwhile, heat up the milk until hot but not boiling.

Let the milk cook down a little and then add about 1/4 cup of milk, to the eggs while continuing to beat on low. *If the milk is too hot, you’ll  discover that you just made scrambled eggs.

Continue beating and slowly add the milk 1cup at a time until all of the milk is incorporated.

At this point you can beat in, either the port wine or the anisette.

Let the egg mixture rest to let the foam subside a little, then run through a strainer and slowly pour it into the souffle dish that has been coated with the caramel.

Place the flan dish into a larger oven proof deep dish pan (bain -marie) that has been filled with 1 inch of water.

Cook at 350 for 60 -75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let the flan cool in it’s pan and place it in the dish in the refrigerator overnight.

When ready to serve, loosen the sides of the flan with a knife and giggle the pan to loosen it.

Cover the top of the flan with a deep serving dish and invert it. Spoon out the caramel over the flan.

Serve as is, decorate with candy pearls or with whipped cream!

+