Caramel Custard, "Leche Flan"

I started this blogsite with my feeble attempt to re-enact my childhood memories and how those memories nurtured the cook or baker in me (click here). I have sworn never to bake caramel custard again as back in the day, I have done them gazillion times. But my dearest brother sent me this recipe from yahoo foods about caramel custard that I couldn't say no. So here I am again, seemingly transported back in time - when my siblings and I were young and silly, and my dearest Mommy was the queen in the kitchen - doing what I do best, pestering my siblings around. Hehehe. While in my youthful childhood, the recipe caramel custard tattooed in my mind was 8 eggs, 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of granulated sugar, the recipe sent by my brother was re-engineered (now, that's a big word) and well thought of in terms of how not to have bubbles in the texture. One thing remains the same though, it tastes like my childhood.

And so, to my dearest brother who I think the world of, this one is for you...

Ingredients

• Caramel:

1 cup white sugar

1/8 cup water

1/8  white vinegar

• Flan

8 egg yolks

¾ cup sugar

1½ cups fresh milk

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Fill a 13x9 roasting pan halfway with water. Let heat inside the oven while it preheats. This is the water bath.

2. Meanwhile, mix ingredients for caramel in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan. On medium heat, stir until sugar has dissolved. Once mixture boils, do not stir. Let mixture boil until it becomes a light golden brown. Immediately drizzle the caramel into a 9x5 loaf pan or into 2 llaneras. Tilt the pan(s) so that the caramel completely covers the bottom(s).

3. In a bowl, thoroughly mix the flan ingredients. Strain mixture into the prepared pan(s). Place mixture into pan(s). Cook in the water bath for 40 minutes, or until 1 hour. A knife inserted in the middle of the flan should come out clean.

4. Cool the flan still in the water bath at room temperature for 30 minutes. Remove from the water bath and un-mold onto a platter.