Flan with Homemade Caramel ~ A Trial with Three Tales

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of sugar
8 eggs
1 can of condensed milk
1 can of evaporated milk
2 tsp. of vanilla extract
A pinch of salt (fine sea salt was used here)

 Directions
Caramel
Set five mini ramekins near your stove  (you will want them close at hand).
To create the caramel is a very simple task.  Just place a medium-sized sauce pan over medium heat. Next, pour one cup of the sugar into the pan.  Stir the sugar constantly (this is very important), making sure nothing sticks to the bottom or sides of the pan.
After a short time, the sugar will begin to melt, becoming clumpy.  After this, the clumps will begin to melt.  Continue stirring until all of the clumps have melted, and the sugar is entirely in liquid form.  At this point, the sugar should be light brown (caramel) in color, and entirely transparent.
Immediately pour the sugar equally into the ramekins, then use a spoon or other utensil to spread some up the sides.  The caramel will begin to harden extremely quickly, so you have to be fast.  Don't worry, though: it won't stay hard.

This simple caramel can be used for many desserts.

Flan
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Blend the remaining ingredients (including the remaining half cup of sugar) in a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer.
Take a metal strainer, and strain the mixture into the ramekins equally, on top of the caramel, ensuring that you don't overfill them.
Set the ramekins into a deep baking pan or dish large enough to hold them all, filling the baking dish with enough water to reach 1/4th or more of the ramekins. Thencover the entire dish with foil.
Bake the flan for approximately one hour.  Test the flan by sticking something into the middle; the utensil should come out clean.  If so, the flan is done.
Place the flans into the refrigerator, and let them chill for several hours.
Place the ramekins upside-down onto serving plates (place the plate onto the top of the ramekin, then turn the whole thing over) and let them sit for a minute, then pull off the ramekin, leaving the flan on the plate, with the now-liquid caramel flowing over it.

Notes: With the adjustments to the caramel preparation this came out perfectly.
The water bath adjustment allowed for the flan to cook uniformly.

Now on to our tasters:

Truffle Shuffle: Did not care for the texture, and thought the flavor was a bit eggy.
Sugar and Spice: Not rich enough, and texture was not as smooth but overall flavor was nice.
Magic of Spice: Thought the texture was off, but tasted good. And that it was photogenic, so she did her thing.
Now we are in search of the perfect Traditional Spanish Flan. Any suggestions are welcome, just email us:)

source: theardentepicure