This Orange-Vanilla Bean Flan brings beautiful citrus flavor into a traditional dessert.
Orange-Vanilla Bean Flan
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
- 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise, scraped, and seeds and pod reserved
- 3 large eggs
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon orange extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Garnish: 2 orange slices, each cut into 5 wedges
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°.
- In a heavy-bottom sauté pan, combine sugar, water, and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat until sugar melts, swirling pan to combine ingredients instead of stirring. To prevent sugar crystals from forming, brush down sides of pan with a pastry brush dipped in water.
- Cook until mixture turns amber in color, swirling and removing from heat if mixture begins to brown too quickly. Remove pan from heat. Quickly divide caramel among 10 (2.75-ounce) ramekins. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, combine cream and reserved vanilla seeds and pod. Heat until hot but not boiling. Remove and discard pod.
- In a medium bowl, combine eggs, sugar, orange extract, and salt, whisking well. Add approximately ¼ cup hot cream to egg mixture, whisking well. Add remainder of cream in small increments, whisking well after each addition. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve.
- Evenly divide mixture among ramekins. Place ramekins in a large baking dish. Add enough water to come halfway up sides of ramekins.
- Bake until mixture is set with a slight jiggle in centers, approximately 30 minutes. Carefully remove ramekins from hot water. Let cool completely. Cover, and refrigerate for 12 hours or overnight.
- Place an individual serving dish over each ramekin, and invert flans onto plates.
- Garnish with an orange wedge, if desired.
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