Recipe: Toasted Coconut Flan

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS

Caramel:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Combine the sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan. Bring to a rapid simmer and cook, without stirring, until amber brown. Carefully and immediately pour into a 9" glass pie plate. Set aside to harden while making the custard.

Custard:

• 1 15.5 oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 6 large eggs - room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinammon
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Warm the coconut and evaporated milk in a saucepan to a simmer.

Whisk together the sugar, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add a few spoonfuls of the warm milk to the mixture combined. Once warmed, add the mixture to the saucepan and cook for a minute. Strain into a bowl to remove any cooked egg particles.

Slowly drizzle the strained mixture into the pie plate with the hardened caramel.

Place the pie plate into a roasting pan. Transfer to the oven then carefully add enough warm water to cover half the height of the pie plate to create a water bath.

Bake until the custard is set (40-50 minutes). Remove from the oven and cool for 30 minutes in the water bath.

ENJOY!

Toasted Coconut Flan

I attended a demonstration cooking class "Adventures in Asia" (meaning attendees don't do any cooking) at Bristol Farms store in Manhattan Beach. My sister Jenny and I went and enjoyed the delicious food afterwards, which was nice. The menu was: Baby Spinach and Pear Salad with Warm Sesame-Shallot Vinaigrette, Tom Yum Soup with Chicken, Shrimp and Sweet Pineapple, and finally this Toasted Coconut Flan. Here is the recipe for the flan, which reminded me of the Mexican flan. In my opinion the Mexican flan has a nicer flavor. But give this one a try!