Preparing for this year’s Thanksgiving celebration was hectic, but thankfully it went off without a hitch. This year we cooked a fabulous meal at home and spent time with family members who are very special to us. One in particular is not doing very well, and the reality of not having her with us next year prompted us to consolidate our plans and create some very special memories this year.
Along with the usual traditional items that are always part of the Thanksgiving table, I wanted to try out a recipe that I had heard about ages ago. I have always been a huge fan of crème caramel, also known as flan. I love everything about it when it is made correctly – ideally, it should have a very creamy texture without being too jiggly like panna cotta, and should definitely not taste eggy. One of the tricks I picked up over the years was to use only egg yolks because of the creaminess — using whole eggs doesn’t yield the right texture at all.
I have also learned to use a few shortcuts with the addition of both condensed milk and evaporated. These ingredients along with the yolks and some vanilla helps this dessert come together quickly and easily without having to worry about buying too many other ingredients. However, if you prefer, you can also use either whole milk or even half and half to create the requisite texture…it just makes your shopping list a little longer.
I wanted to try a different flan recipe and had a perfect audience to evaluate it at my Thanksgiving day dinner. This is one of those recipes that is never really discussed, but simply whispered in conversation as people reveal the little secrets here and there that make their flan so very delicious. The secret was a simple addition of cream cheese, but because no one was willing to offer up a recipe, this was going to require a period of trial and error to see if I could get it right.
I did some research online and found some recipes that included up to one pound of cream cheese for the recipe, but this is a flan after all, and not a cheesecake. The cream cheese should be added to create an extra level of smoothness and creaminess without making it too fragile or too much like a cheesecake.
The result was a perfectly creamy creation that instantly transported me back to the one I had tasted many years ago. The addition of the cream cheese does not make this any more difficult to make than the original recipe, so don’t hesitate to try it at your next celebration. Just sit back and wait for the accolades to start rolling in.
Cuban Flan
1 recipe Crème Caramel
8 ounces cream cheese
The process for this is basically the same as the original creme caramel recipe. The only thing that I did differently was that I heated the 2 cans of evaporated milk in the microwave to melt in the cream cheese, and then combined with the other ingredients in the same way. From now on, I’m making my flan with this extra little addition and once you try it, I’m sure you will too.
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