If you have been to France, you would have seen the Flan Patissier in bakeries or maybe had a serve in a bistro. The flan patissier is a classic french dessert, it is alike a baked custard. Some versions of the flan patissier include a shortcrust pastry. My version does not have it. I grew up with that version, I prefer it as such. The pastry makes unmoulding easier, otherwise I do not find it adds much to the dessert as a whole.
To make it quite thick – I find it looks amazing like that! – you will need either a narrow baking dish (17 cm diameter) or you need to double the recipe like I did for the photo session!
Serves 5
Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 vanilla bean (you can also use some of the vanilla powder you find in gourmet spice shops)
- 80 g white sugar
- 700 mL of milk
- 75 g of corn flour
- 300 mL of cream
Method:
- Heat up the oven on 180°C, butter and flour the tin (use a spring form one if you have one).
Note: if you are making the single proportions above, you can use a ceramic tart dish to bake it it and serve it directly as such (my Mum always did that!).
- Scrap the vamilla beans and place in th milk. Heat up the sugar, milk and cream.
- In the meanwhile, whisk together the eggs and corn flour. Once the milk is hot, pour the equivalent of a laddle in the egg mi and mix well, add the rest. Mix well before returning to the saucepan and, using a whisk, keep stiring. The custard will thicken. Once it becomes thicker remove from the heat an transfer to the prepared tin. Flatten the top with a spatula.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until browned to dark on the top. It may look a little burnt, don’t worry this is normal.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool before unmoulding.
- Serve warm or completely cooled down at room temperature. If unmoulding, first use a sharp knive to make sure the flan does not stick to the edges of the tin.
Tip: you can add soaked sultanas, a couple spoons of rhum or chocolate chips to make it a little different.
