I’ve never made a creme caramel before so the perfectionist in me, searched high and low for that what could be the perfect creme caramel! Some use milk, some use cream and some use condensed milk. So I thought I’d try the condensed milk recipe, after all, who doesn’t like condensed milk? :)

After chilling it, I was super anxious to turn it upside down to see if it had worked to be a success, or a disaster. Oh my! The relief I felt as I was cutting through this silky smooth custard pudding (whilst I was fasting) was such a joy! I just had to cut a slice for photos purposes before taking this baby out to an iftar we were invited to last night.

RECIPE FOR CREME CARAMEL/LECHE FLAN
Adapted from Russian Filipino Kitchen, with slight modifications

Prep time: 10 mins
Bake time: 45mins
Chilled time: 2hours (min)

Ingredients

Sugar caramel:
½ cup white sugar
2 tbsp water

Egg Custard:
4 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1.5 teaspoon pure vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees, fan forced.

2. Combine sugar and water in a stainless steel sauce pan and dissolve on low heat. Stir until it melts, then increase the heat and stop stirring. Keep an eye as the sugar starts to turn light brown, turn off heat and mix evenly. Transfer quickly to 5 ramekins, or I’ve used a square baking tray 20x20cm.

3. Add sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, eggs, and vanilla extract into a blender. Cover and “pulse” for 10-20 seconds until a uniform mixture is achieved. Do not be alarmed if there are a lot of air bubbles. Strained the mixture 3 times until you get rid of some impurities from the eggs and the bubbles have diminished.

4. Transfer the strained egg mixture into your ramekins/tray and use your fingers to pop up any stray bubbles on the surface. Put the mixture tray into another larger tray and fill the large tray with water, about an inch high . Like a water bath.

5. Bake for 45minutes and then cool for an hour before chilling it in the fridge. Chill for at least 2 hours before turning it over to a serving plate.