Coconut Flan

I've been making this for years and it's become a family favorite. It's a soft, rich taste that appeals to everyone.  In fact, when my daughter heard I made this yesterday, she started whining into the phone as she is too far away to come get the leftovers. 

It's so darn simple that it's ridiculous.  It took me longer to write about it then it did to actually make it.

The hardest part is making the caramel out of sugar and water.

Yep. Not hard at all, except I did manage to burn mine, so I do have some advice for you below. The ladies I served it to last night loved it, and assured me that it was not burnt, so even if you don't do it perfectly, you are still going to have a great dessert.

When caramelizing the sugar, use a small, heavy saucepan.  Swirl the sugar water mixture over medium high heat, it takes a minute or two for the sugar to melt, and another couple minutes for the sugar to start to turn amber color.  That's when you want to pull it off the heat, because the mixture is so hot at this point, and your pan is still cooking it, your caramel will continue to brown.  That's where I went wrong, I took it off the heat when I liked the color... and that mixture kept on getting darker.  I was really annoyed with myself... I may have said some choice words about it.

Also, I have used a ring springform pan, and Mexican Flan's are mostly served in a ring shape, BUT, you can make this in any kind of pan!  A springform cheesecake pan, but even a pie plate would work.  If you use a springform pan you MUST cover the outside with foil to protect the mixture from getting OUT of the pan and the hot water from getting INTO the pan. 

Do NOT skip this step or you will have a mess...

Make sure your pan is deep enough so that you can add water around it.  You need to cook this dessert in a 'bain marie'... which only means you cooked it with water around it to keep the heat consistent and didn't cook it from the outside inwards... which would make the texture weird with all the eggs.

 

¾ cup sugar

2 Tbsp water

1 can (15 oz) coconut milk

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 can (12oz) evaporated Milk

6 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp. vanilla

*** I made this with light Coconut Milk and lowfat evaporated milk with great results!

Heat Oven to 325 F.

In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and the water and melt over med low heat until the sugar turns an amber color. 

Pour the caramel into the bottom of a large baking pan. Mine is a little dark, but it turned out okay.

Whisk together cream of coconut, and other canned milks, eggs and vanilla. 
I even used my blender for this step... talk about easy!

Pour mixture into pan, place that pan in another pan with hot water poured around it, bake for approx 40 minutes. It's best if you pour the hot water in the pan around your flan after your pan is already in the oven on the rack, less slooshing about.

 

Cool and cover with plastic.  Chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
Before serving, loosen the outside of the dish by running a sharp knife around the edges.  Invert the pan onto a serving tray.