Flan

Prepare Caramel glaze first: Place the sugar and water in a large heavy skillet. Continue stirring while cooking on med heat until the sugar melts and begins to turn caramel colored and thickens like corn syrup.(probably 5-8 min depending on your burners). If the sugar is hardening too quickly, just drizzle a little water around the edges of the pan into the sugar.

Take the pan of the heat and let it rest for one minute. OUCH! It’s very hot! If you smell a burned smell, it means you’ve cooked it too long, so start over again. Coat the bottom and up to 1 inch on the sides of a medium oven proof souffle pan with the caramel sauce. Let the Caramel harden and put aside while you make the custard.

Prepare custard: In med bowl, beat the eggs with 1 cup sugar until lemony colored. Meanwhile, heat up the milk until hot but not boiling. Let the milk cook down a little and then add about 1/4 cup of milk, to the eggs while continuing to beat on low. (If the milk is too hot, you’ll discover that you just made scrambled eggs Continue beating and slowly add the milk 1cup at a time until all of the milk is incorporated. At this point you can beat in, either the 1 tsp vanilla extract, the anisette, or the caramel glaze if you desire. Let the egg mixture rest to let the foam subside a little then slowly pour it into the souffle dish that has been coated with the caramel.

Place the flan dish into a larger oven proof deep dish that has been filled with 1 inch of water. Cook at 350 for 60 -75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the flan cool in it’s pan and place it in the dish in the refrigerator overnight.

When ready to serve, loosen the sides of the flan with a knife and giggle the pan to loosen it. Cover the top of the flan with a deep serving dish and invert it. Spoon out the caramel over the flan. You can place the souffle dish into a shallow bowl of hot water to melt the remaining caramel or brake up the caramel to serve on top as seen in the picture.