When I was a child. I was obsessed with Sprite. Not 7-up. Not Slice. I wanted Sprite at all times and in all establishments. I knew the sprite taste so well and was so sure of it, that when at times I would ask for sprite and be served 7-up (too seltzery) or Slice (way too sweet), I would call the waiter back over and demand to know what had happened to the Sprite! Now-a-days, I’m a little less picky…with soda.
The Sprite Monster Destroyed Many a Waiter.
But not with flan! Flan comes in all consistencies and forms. In Barcelona there is Creme Catalan (mmm). In France, Creme Caramel and Creme Brulee. In Spain, Flan.
Basicamente… Te AMOOOO, Flan!
Across Hispania you can find such a variety of this favorite dish of mine, that you simply don’t know what you’re getting. Sometimes the Flan comes made with leche condensada (condensed milk) and other times it comes with Cream Cheese. Cuban Flan sometimes has both! ugh. The real flan, the flan that I love, is light and custardy with a simple caramel top. It’s served cold and there is simply never ever enough of it.
Ay nooo por favor!
In Brazil, I was introduced to passion fruit Flan (because in Brazil there is passion fruit everything). Passion fruit is a bit too over-powering for me, but I decided to experiment with some tropical infused flan for my mexican dinner party. I made this very lightly flavored guava flan–super delicioso!
Yes! I could eat literally 6 or 7 of these at once
To make this flan you will need to spend some time turning your guava into guava pulp. I found the best way to do this is to either a) buy it frozen and thaw it out or b) use an apple sauce grinder to make fresh sauce, free of seeds. This is what I did.
No, not all guava is pink in the middle. Surprise!
Because of the time you’ll need with the guava and because of the time you’ll want to cool the flan(3 hours), I suggest making this flan at least 4 or 5 hours ahead. The actual cooking time if you do use frozen guava, is literally about 5-10 minutes, so quit your moaning and groaning and go turn your stove to medium heat and pre-heat that oven to 350 F.
Peel the guava and slice/chop into chunks and place into a medium size pot over medium heat on the stove. If you are not planning on using an apple sauce grinder, I’d recommend removing the seeds from the middle of the guava. It seems like you are missing a lot of the fruit, but this part of the flesh melts away quickly when you heat it up anyhow.
See?
Allow the guava too cook down as if you are making preserves. This guava type was a bit tough. I let it cook at least for 30 minutes before taking a potato masher to it to turn it into a chunky pulp and improvising with my apple sauce maker.
If you are using a grinder, you can skip the potato masher, and simply put the fruit through the grindr. Remember that the seeds of the guava fruit are small, so make sure to use the fine strainer so that only fine pulp comes through. Set the pulp aside.
Meanwhile, prepare all of the ingredients you will need for the flan. Here is my “mis en place.” BOOM! How’s yours?
Now this will go quickly. . . First make some caramel using 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of water. Place the ingredients into a small saucepan and heat on low until the sugar is dissolved.
Voila! I started the boil after it was dissolved fyi.
Heat up the syrup until the mixture boils and turns a nice amber color.
Yum Yum in the Tum Tum
Remove from heat and immediately pour into your ramekins (6 of them).
Now heat up (on low) the milk, remaining sugar, vanilla, and 3/4 cup of guava puree.
In a stand mixer, beat together the eggs.
Once the sugar has dissolved in the milk-guava mixture, combine with the eggs. Pour the mixture into the ramekins, which should be sitting in 13”x9″ brownie pans.
Fill the pans with water such that the water comes half way up the ramekins. Pop these babies into the oven for 50 minutes. When you remove them from the oven, also make sure to take them out of the water bath before letting them cool down for 30 minutes.
Place them in the oven to cool for about 3 hours. When you are ready to serve them, loosen them from the ramekins with a knife, and turn them over upside down onto a plate and serve. mmm..mmmm…good!
- 1 c. granulated sugar (dominos)
- ¼ c. water
- 2 cups whole milk
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- ½ to ¾ cup of guava puree (made from 4 fresh guavas)
- Per heat oven to 350 FHeat ½ c sugar and ¼ c water on low heat until dissolved and clear
- Turn up heat to a boil until the mixture caramelizes and turns amber
- Remove from heat and pour into 6¾ cup ramekins seated inside two 13x9 inch pans
- Combine remaining sugar, milk, salt, vanilla, and guava puree in large sautee pan and heat on low until sugar is dissolved.
- Whisk together the eggs and combine with the milk-guava mixture
- Pour the mixture into the ramekins
- Fill the 13x9 inch pans with water such that the water comes half way up the ramekins
- Bake in the oven for 50 minutes at 350 F
- Remove from the oven and from the water bath and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
- Place into the fridge for 3 hours and then serve by loosening the flan and inverting the ramekin onto a plate!
TheGrumpyGourmand is a rug-rat of a cook always up for a challenge. A former cookie stealer. A bakers apprentice. A hacker in the kitchen. Starting with a few basic skills, he's undergoing a challenge to cook his way from novice to expert starting in 2015. 
Leave a Reply