Leche Flan: A Filipino Dessert

Since I have already started with Filipino food when I shared our Chicken Adobo recipe, let’s move on to the desserts!

It might not be obvious (or is it?), but us Filipinos love to eat! And most of us have this awful sweet tooth. Today I’m going to share another Filipino favorite, the Leche Flan. It is the Philippine custard and one of the influences that Spain left in our cuisine.

NOTE: This recipe yields one llanera (it is that aluminum oval mold below) but if you can’t find one, a ramekin will do.

What you will need:

Caramelized sugar

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1/6 cup of water

Dash of salt (optional)

Custard

4 egg yolks

1 can condensed milk

1/3 can (of condensed milk) evaporated milk

1 tsp of pure vanilla extract

The how to:

For the caramelized sugar:

Pour ingredients in warm saucepan over medium heat. Constantly stir sugar until it browns and becomes caramel. Quickly pour the caramel into the llanera tilting it making sure you have some on the sides. Reheat caramel if it starts to harden.

For the custard:

In a mixing bowl, mix the yolk gently to break it. Add condensed milk, evaporated milk, and vanilla extract and mix the liquid mixture gently. To have smooth set custard, do not whisk the mixture so as not to create bubbles in the custard.

Pour custard into the caramel lined llanera. Then, cover tightly with foil. If the llanera you bought comes with a cover that would be great.  This avoids moisture from the steam or water to get to the custard while cooking which leaves marks of breakage on the custard when cooked.

Steam for about 25 minutes and check with a knife just to the side of the center. If knife comes out clean, it's ready. J

To serve, run a knife around the edge of the llanera and invert into a serving plate, the caramel sauce will flow over the custard.

Leche Flan’s are yummier when cold, so you can refrigerate the flan first before putting it out on the table. J