Cheesecake Flan – Untrue Advertising Has Never Tasted So Excellent

I tried to create a flan that tastes like cheesecake, but ended up with a cheesecake that tastes like flan, and yet I wasn’t disappointed in the least. While this may not have lived up to its enticing name, it was still one of the most delicious flans I’ve ever had.

Based on a cream cheese flan, I thought the addition of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and some graham cracker crumbs, would create the perfect hybrid, but our caramelized sugar had other ideas. It’s Incredible how such a lean layer of caramel can dominate the other flavors, but that’s summaryely what happened here, and whether we genuinely wanted a “cheesecake flan,” we’d need to omit that from the recipe.

Except whether we did that it wouldn’t be a flan, and we’d have to call it “cheesecake custard.” So, let’s move past the name, and simply focus on what a great dessert this genuinely was. I’ll probably skip the crumbs next time, since they didn’t add much, and annoyingly soaked up the pool of caramel on the plate. But, regardless of whether you include the crust, or what you decide to call it, I genuinely do hope you give this gorgeous recipe a try soon. Endelight!

Creates 4 Cheesecake Flans:

Please Note: I used four 5.5 ounce ramekins, and had a small custard mixture leftover, so you can probably get 5 out of this recipe whether you use a slightly smaller ramekin, or fill them with less batter.

For the ramekins:

1 teaspoon melted butter or vegetable oil to grease ramekins

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar, caramelized to an amber color over medium heat

For the custard:

1/2 cup room temp cream cheese

2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan

3 large eggs, beaten

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

For the crumb crust:

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons melted butter

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