Spanish orange custard flans

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Karen Burns-Booth shows us a simplified Spanish orange custard flan. These colourful little desserts are ideal for dinner party cooking!

First published in 2015

One of my favourite desserts is the Spanish “Flan de Naranja”, which you can buy all over Spain, in bars and restaurants, as well as on market stalls, it’s truly Spain’s national dessert. They are usually served with a caramel topping, like a crème caramel in France, but my recipe for Spanish Orange Custard Flans today has been simplified to exclude the caramel and has fragrant orange blossom water added for an exotic flavour.

As well as being made and sold in Spain, some of my friends from the States told me that these little orange flans are very popular in Mexico too, although I have yet to taste one “in situ” yet! You can adjust the flavourings, instead of orange blossom water, you can add a good swig of orange liqueur for adult dining and a dinner party dessert, and, vanilla extract also works well in these custard flans.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Method

1
Pre-heat the oven to 180C and select 6 ramekin or flan dishes. Boil a full kettle of water
2
Beat the eggs in a large bowl or jug that has a lip.
3
Add the milk and sugar to the eggs and whisk together.
4
Add the orange zest and orange flower water and mix well.
5
Place the flan dishes or ramekins into a large dish or oven tin and carefully pour the custard mixture into the dishes. Then place the dish/oven tin into the oven and pour the boiling water from the kettle into the dish/tin so that it comes half way up around the flan dishes
6
Close the oven and bake the flans for 30 to 40 minutes, or until they are golden brown and set with just a slight wobble
7
Take them out of the oven and the water filled dish and allow to cool before serving. Great with caramel sauce and fresh fruit
First published in 2015

Karen Burns-Booth is a freelance food & travel writer, recipe developer and food stylist with a passion for local, seasonal ingredients.

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