gabriela cámara's flan de nutella
And now: another recipe from Gabriela Cámara’s new book that I couldn’t not tell you about. I’m a big fan of traditional flan—cool, quivering vanilla custard bathed in golden caramel. It reminds me of Chile and my family and our collective cultural penchant for sweet, milky desserts. So I was originally skeptical of this Nutella flan; I was worried it would change everything I like about the custard. But it turns out that when you combine Nutella with sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk, something magical happens. You get the creamiest milk chocolate flavor. The hazelnut still tastes like hazelnut, but it becomes something more difficult to place. The two milks make the Nutella creamier, and well…milkier. One of my favorite childhood food memories is sipping a cup of hot chocolate, warm from fresh cow’s milk and homemade milk chocolate, on a farm in San José de Maipo, Chile. This is that.
gabriela cámara's Flan de Nutella
Barely adapted from My Mexico City Kitchen by Gabriela Cámara.
No changes to the ingredients or method; I just tweaked a few sentences for clarity. The hardest part of this six-ingredient recipe is making the caramel; go slow to avoid burning. And make sure you have a roasting pan large enough to fit your cake pan. This flan is delicious on its own or with barely sweetened whipped cream.
Serves 8.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (45 mL) water
1/2 cup (120 mL) sweetened condensed milk
2 12 ounce (354 mL) cans evaporated milk
2/3 cup (190 grams) Nutella
4 eggs
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
To make the caramel for the bottom of the flan: Place the sugar in a small saucepan and cover with the water. Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has melted and the liquid is golden but not dark brown. Pour the caramel into a 9-inch cake pan with 2 1/2-inch sides or a 10-cup Bundt pan. Set aside.
Bring a full kettle of water to a boil.
In a blender or food processor, pulse the condensed milk, evaporated milk, Nutella, and eggs. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
Place the cake pan in a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with boiling water to reach at least halfway up the outside of the cake pan. Bake for 1 hour.
Place the flan on a cooling rack. When cooled to room temperature, refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
Carefully place a serving plate over the cake pan and invert the pan and plate together so that the flan falls onto the plate. Pour the caramel that remains in the bottom of the cake pan over the top of the flan and serve. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.