Flan, yeah I said Flan.

After wanting to make spaetzle all week, for some crazy reason I took a left turn and decided to make flan. I had company coming over for dinner and thought, hey why not give it a try. So I did. It was my first time ever. I have made a baked custard before but it isn't quite the same thing.  I have had flan before and sometimes it is awesome, other times it is really, really bad. Like super gross bad.

 I think the hardest part was getting the sugar cooked just right, you don't realize just how much that flavors the flan until you mess it up. I was so worried about shaking the sugar that I forgot the part about turning the burner down. Now it wasn't burnt, but it was close to it, and left a bitter taste on the flan. It got really dark also. I knew as soon as I poured the caramel on the dish that it cooked to high, because it got hard right away. It shouldn't have, it also cracked as soon as I poured the cold egg mixture on it. Another bad sign, I should have went with my gut and re did the sugar, next time I will know.

 I was also worried about mixing the eggs too much because the recipe warned about leaving too much foam, how it would effect the texture, so instead I ended up with patches of egg whites that weren't mixed in enough and got really hard. So it was a bit weird in spots.

Also, it was too thin, if I am going to use the same pan I need to make a larger patch.

I added blueberries also, I thought they were a nice touch. I don't think they effected anything other than the color.

I enjoyed making this, I have always been scared to mess with melting sugar, but it was really easy.  I won't be scared next time, and should be able to pull it off better. I need to think of other things I can use this sugar technique on, like maybe on the bottom of cinnamon rolls, or pineapple upside down cake. It would help make the cake more moist and yummy.  Oh man, it is making me drool just thinking about it.  Yummy, yummy caramel goodness.

So how did my flan turn out over all? I would say it was a 4, maybe a 5. It wasn't super gross, just needed to be tweaked a bit. Maybe in a few weeks I can make another one, when my teenager is around and he can honestly critique me, and eat all the left overs.  And yes this time I have photos, enjoy!

As you can see the top one is after it was turned over, the bottom is the top side, which I think looks prettier.

I am not sure why I wanted to make this, I was first introduced to flan years ago when I was just a teenager, and they had made the instant kind, out of a box. I have had it since in restaurants, and surprisingly the box was one of the best.  I think I thought it was a super hard thing to make, but in the end it really wasn't. If you have any sort of egg making skills, you should be able to make this. Just beware of the temperature of the sugar while you are melting it, and however the sugar ends up tasting, that is mostly how your flan with taste, so if you burn it, you are screwed. Also, beat your eggs really really well, you need to break up those proteins, so you have a creamier texture, if it gets foamy, just scrap off the foam, or let it settle for a bit. I have to say I think a little foam would be better than weird hard chunks of egg whites floating in it.

I have to say though, that I was a chicken and that I didn't end up serving it too my company, just too soon, instead they got breakfast for dinner. I served pan cakes with sugar and lemon, like they do in England, and she loved them.