This is the flan I made last night, I'm starting from a Rick Bayless recipe and reducing the sugar each time. The next time I try, I'm going to drop the sugar from the flan completely. Hopefully the berries will be able to carry the flan. This is good the way it is, but it is much much better after it has chilled, so give it at least 2 hours in the fridge. The warm flan and berries just taste flat without the sweetness of the caramel to overpower the blandness of the warm flan.
Flan:
- 2 2/3 cups whole milk (I'm using unhomogenized milk now, hopefully raw milk soon)
- 5 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Topping:
- 1 cup or so of frozen blackberries
- Agave syrup to taste
Equipment:
- Six small cups, bowls or ramekins that can be placed in the oven
- A cake pan or similar vessel to hold the water
- Preheat the oven to 325.
- Heat the berries in the microwave until they release their juices. I just crushed them with a fork and added the syrup this time, but hitting them with the blender and doing something to thicken the result will give you a prettier result.
- Evenly distribute the berry mixture to the bottom of your 6 dishes.
- Heat the milk to a simmer with the sugar if you are using it. You can also add some lime zest to the milk too, but I haven't had a chance to try this variation yet.
- Boil enough water to submerge the bowls 2/3rds of the way up in your pan, but don't add this until the pan is in the oven.
- Put the eggs in a bowl and whisk them until uniform.
- Add a little bit of the hot milk to the eggs while whisking them to temper the eggs, then slowly pour the rest of the eggs into the bowl whisking the whole time.
- Strain the milk and egg mixture back into the measuring cup used to measure out the milk
- Add the flan mixture to the cups trying not to mix the flan with the berries.
- Put the cups in the pan and put it in the oven then pour the water in the pan.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes until the flan jiggles like jello.
- Cool on the counter and then stick in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
I've got a bad ice cream habit, and this is my attempt to create a lower sugar content dessert to satisfy that craving. Based on last nights tasting I think this is going to work. I just need to get a little more variety like chocolate, and I'm not sure what else. I don't want to add a topping that is going to be little more then flavored sugar.