How to Make a Créme Caramel 🍮🍮 - FRENCH CLASSICS 🇫🇷 FULL RECIPE BELOW ⬇️ NOTE: This recipe is for a 9" wide pie dish that is 1.5" deep. If using another mould, quantities must be scaled accordingly! INGREDIENTS: 3 cups milk 1.5 cups whipping cream 1 vanilla pod 1/4 cup room temperature water 1.5 cups sugar 1/2 cup maple syrup 6 whole eggs 3 egg yolks Fleur de sel (to finish) INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. You can also start a pot with 2-3 litres of hot water, to heat over low heat. 2. Add your milk and cream to a medium sauce pot. Cut your vanilla pod in half lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds. Add both the seeds and the pod to the your milk/cream mixture. Bring everything to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then immediately turn off the heat. 3. Add your whole eggs and yolks to a large heat-proof bowl, and whisk them until homogeneous with a 1/2 cup each of sugar and maple syrup. 4. Once your milk-cream mixture is hot, remove the vanilla pod, and start pouring it into your egg mixture, slowly at first, whisking vigorously as you go. Once half the milk/cream has been poured in, you can pour the rest relatively quickly. Set this mixture to the side for the moment. This is your custard base. 5. In a medium heavy-bottom pot or pan, add your remaining sugar (1 cup), along with your 1/4 cup of water. MAKE SURE your pot/pan is clean beforehand. Start the pan over medium heat, and watch as your sugar turns into a liquid syrup. From here, DO NOT stir your syrup, just till the pan if needed, or use a clean wet brush to brush down the walls of the pot/pan, if you see the syrup start to stick/crystallize. You are looking for a nice amber colour - but you will likely need to take the caramel off the heat BEFORE the entire caramel is amber in colour. Once approximately half the syrup reaches this colour, you can remove the caramel to continue cooking off the heat. If needed, you can always put your caramel back on the heat to get more colour - but you can’t fix a burnt caramel that is left on the heat too long! If you start to see smoke, that is the first sign to remove your caramel from the heat. This is not necessarily a bad thing - I find the first sign of smoke to be the perfect time to remove my caramel! Too much smoke however is a very bad sign. 6. Once your caramel is ready, pour it in your baking dish. Next, use a strainer to pour your custard base into the baking dish over the caramel. From here, place your baking dish into a larger baking dish, that is large enough to comfortably fit your crème caramel. Transfer this set-up into the oven, then fill the larger baking dish with hot water until it reaches ~1/2 way up the sides of your crème caramel dish. This is your "Bain-Marie", which will allow your flan to cook slowly and evenly. 7. Cook your flan for 45-60 minutes, or until the inner 75% of the custard jiggles (but does not look wavy/liquidy). You can also test by inserting a cake tester into the middle of the custard, and ensuring it comes out clean. My custard took 55 minutes, but this will vary depending on the strength of your oven, and the ingredients you are using. 8. Allow your custard to cool in the fridge for at least 6 hours, but ideally overnight. When ready to serve, release the crème caramel from the sides of your baking dish using an offset spatula, or another thin tool. Invert your flan onto a large plate, slice, and serve! Finish with fleur de sel, and a generous drizzle of caramel. Enjoy! #cremecaramel #flan #french #homecooking #Recipe - @thestrongcook