DOS LECHES FLAN

Steps:

• Preheat the Oven and Prepare a Water Bath
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Place a rectangular cake pan or roasting pan into the oven and pour in enough water to come halfway up the sides of the pan. Leave the pan in the oven while it preheats.
• Mix the Flan Ingredients
• In a mixing bowl, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, water, eggs, salt, and vanilla. Mix until everything is well blended.
• Make the Caramel
• This is actually much easier than you think. Just make sure you have a nonstick skillet and a heat-proof silicone spatula. Place a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, sprinkle the sugar evenly all over it, and cook. After about 5 minutes, you will see the sugar begin to melt. A few minutes after that, parts of the melted sugar will begin to turn a light brown color. If the sugar is melting unevenly, you can use your silicone spatula to stir it around a bit. If you do, the sugar will clump up a bit, and that is okay. The clumps will eventually melt down-just continue stirring.
• Once all of the sugar has melted (and any clumps have disappeared), pour the caramel into a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, preferably a nonstick one. As soon as you pour the caramel into the pan, it will begin to harden, which is okay.
• Pour the Flan Mixture into the Pan and Bake
• Give the flan mixture a quick mix and pour it over the prepared caramel in the pan.
• Place the pan in the center of the water bath. You may hear some crackling, which is the hardened caramel.
• Bake for 1 hour, or until a cake tester, toothpick, or butter knife inserted in the center of the flan comes out clean. The center will still jiggle a bit.
• Remove the loaf pan from the oven and allow to cool for 1 hour. If you are going to unmold the flan in the next hour, leave the water bath in the oven. (After cooling for 45 minutes, you can cover the flan with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to unmold it.)
• Unmold and Serve
• You need your water bath again. If you discarded the one used for baking, place enough hot water in a rectangular cake pan or roasting pan to come at least a quarter of the way up the sides of the pan.
• Dip the loaf pan into the hot water and let it sit for a few minutes. You will hear cracking again, which is the caramel loosening up. Remove the loaf pan from the hot water and run a thin knife blade between the flan and the sides of the pan.
• Invert a serving platter over the loaf pan and flip both over, dislodging the flan from the pan. The caramel will drip down onto the platter. (A good amount of caramel will have remained in its solid state in the pan, which is expected.)
• Serve and enjoy!
• COOKING NOTES
• TECHNIQUES
• Making Caramel
• Forget about what you have heard, caramel is easy to make and easy to clean up. You just have to have the right tools: a nonstick pan and a heatproof silicone spatula. Using any other material will make for a messy and long clean up.
• Follow the instructions in the recipe and if the sugar clumps up, keep heating it until it melts.
• Creating a Water Bath
• I find the easiest and safest way to create an oven water bath is to place a deep pan in the oven, fill it with water, and allow it to heat up during the oven preheating time.
• Cleaning the Pans
• The nonstick skillet and silicone spatula will clean up quickly after they have been used. A little hot soapy water should be enough to get all the hardened caramel off.
• The loaf pan is a different story. You will most likely end up with a hardened layer of caramel stuck to your pan. Soak the pan in hot soapy water overnight. The next day, pour out the water and pour in clean hot water. Any remaining caramel should just melt right off.
• ADVANCE PREPARATION
• The flan can be baked and left in its pan, unmolded, in the refrigerator for 2 days. After it has been unmolded, it will keep for another 3 days or so.