Pumpkin Flan
- Total Time
- About 2 hours, plus chilling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:10 to 12 servings
- 1¾cups/350 grams granulated sugar, divided
- 1cinnamon stick
- 2cups/473 milliliters half-and-half
- 4large eggs, plus 2 large egg yolks
- 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (see note)
- ⅛teaspoon fine salt
- ½cup/125 grams pumpkin purée (from a speckled hound, calabaza or other cooking pumpkin)
- ½cup/125 grams butternut squash purée (see note)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)
209 calories; 7 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 33 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 31 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 75 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Make the caramel: In a heavy saucepan, mix ¾ cup sugar and ¼ cup water. The mixture should look like wet sand. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it begins to make large bubbles. Continue to cook without stirring, rotating the pan regularly, until the caramel is translucent and amber-colored, 12 to 15 minutes. Working quickly, pour caramel into a 2-quart oven-safe glass bowl and rotate the bowl so it coats the sides.
- Step 2
Make the flan: In another saucepan, combine remaining sugar, cinnamon stick and half-and-half. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Let cool.
- Step 3
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk eggs and egg yolks in a large bowl until well blended. Whisk in vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, salt and pumpkin and squash purées. Add cooled cream mixture and whisk well.
- Step 4
Pour custard mixture through a mesh sieve, stirring and pressing with a spatula. You can do this directly into the bowl with the caramel, or into a separate bowl first, and then pour the strained mixture into the bowl with the caramel.
- Step 5
Place the bowl with the custard into a larger baking dish and carefully add warm water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the flan bowl. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 45 to 60 minutes, or until flan is just set in the middle, but still jiggles slightly. (A wider, shallower baking vessel will cook more quickly than a deeper one.)
- Step 6
Remove flan from water bath and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until completely cool, preferably overnight. To serve, run a knife around the edges of the flan, then put a serving platter on top of the bowl and invert. The flan should slip easily onto the serving platter with the caramel sauce pooling nicely around it.
Tips
- For the pumpkin pie spice, you may substitute ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon ginger, ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg and pinch each of allspice and cloves.
- To make butternut squash purée, toss butternut squash chunks lightly in a neutral oil. Roast in a 350 degree oven until fork tender. Let cool slightly, then purée in a food processor.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Izzy
Third ingredient on the list asks for 2 cups, but of what?????
David n Bobbie Weiss
If you go with canned pumpkin only, use 1 cup of the stuff. This is replacing all the fresh puréed items, half a cup of 2 ingredients, the fresh pumpkin n the fresh squash.
Su
I'd love to know why Ms. Velasco typically uses three kinds of squash. I favor baking with hubbard-style squashes and will substitute homemade squash puree here, but I'd love to know the motivation for the original. Thanks!
Sherry Davis
To release the caramel left in the cooking vessel, place the vessel over a pot of simmering water until it melts, stirring occasionally to release stuck pieces. Cool and then pour over the flan.
r david wilson
This was wonderful-- and I added a few tablespoons of rum to the flan which gave it another subtlety.
BLC
This turned out beautifully. It was much simpler to make than I'd expected. No double boiler required for the custard. It un-molded easily with a pool of caramel, just as pictured. And it tasted delicious. Yes it's sweet and rich, but also fairly light, which was nice for a Thanksgiving dessert. Much better than a dreary pumpkin pie. Sorry to all the pumpkin pie fans.
MAKS
Definitely do not addd more pumpkin than stated-weird texture.
Lisa
Quick question... I'm mid-flan! Do I only cover the glass bowl with foil, or the entire set-up?
AidaSura
I tried this recipe and the custard wouldn’t set. Of course, because the recipe is not asking for corn starch that is needed for flan. Eventually I took it out of the water bath that basically caused the egg to cook. The taste was ok but the texture was suboptimal. I hope this recipe is properly reviewed and adjusted.
Eliz.
@Lucy H, good question. Whenever I am interested in modifying a recipe's instructions, I consult trusted cookbooks or websites (e.g., Food52, Smitten Kitchen, David L...) for the information I seek. In this case, Mark Bittman came through in How To Cook Everything. If you use half & half, the cooking time for 4 oz. ramekins should be around 30 minutes, uncovered. Bittman notes that cream sets in less time and milk, the opposite. Just keep the oven light on and monitor at around 20 minutes.
Eliz.
Made half recipe w milk to cut back on some if not all ingredients that increase LLD cholesterol levels. (Tolerance, please.) Roasted 1 honeycup squash at 375 F ca. 23 mins. Cooled. Scooped out flesh to process and make 1/2 cup. Cut sugar in half for custard. Really needed only 2/3 of caramel for 4 4-oz ramekins, uncovered in Pyrex lasagna pan w warm bain marie. 45 mins; less w half & half. Nice alternative to my beloved pumpkin pie, tho flavor subtle w only 2 T squash per serving.
Elisha
When making the Carmel I only stirred it for about 30 seconds right at the beginning and then swirled it It maybe 5 times and the Carmel came out great that way. The first attempt crystallized because I stirred it too much. I would say you really don't need to stir it at all otherwise it just ends up crystallized. My flan came out way over cooked too. Well have to try again with way less time.
Lucy H.
Can you cook this in individual custard cups? What would need to change in the recipe?
leesat1
very tasty. some may feel the pumpkin overwhelms the custard.
Rose Thomas
I liked making Margarita Velasco’s pumpkin flan so much that I might make this instead of pumpkin pie forever. I liked making it so much that I might need to get a special flan pan. I used 1/2 c roasted butternut squash and 1/2 c. canned pumpkin and it turned out great. Used a pie pan since I didn’t have a big enough bowl and that worked fine, too. I’m glad I made my own pumpkin spice. I think freshly grinding/grating the spices really deepened the flavors.
Sad Flanman
Be careful, this recipe led me to WAY WAY WAY overcooking, though I followed instructions to the dot and am an experienced baker. I should have known better and temped it starting at 30min, pulling at 175-180. I ended up pulling after an hour and internal was 205. Yuck. :(
Flora
Very tasty, perfect texture in a flan pan with a hole in the middle. I might cut back a bit on the spice next time. Watch the caramel as it cooks. It can go from pale golden to nearly burnt in about six seconds.
JuanZ
I made this for a holiday dinner. There was a stress factor in knowing if the dish turned out ok, because I couldn’t unmold it until after dinner. But I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out amazing! Everyone loved this as a lighter alternative to pumpkin pie. I recommend watching a video to get the caramel part right though, I had to do it twice.
Home Baker
Can these be made into mini flans baked in a silicone muffin liner?
Lau
Any way to make this dairy free with coconut milk or coconut creme?
Yoshiko
I used Evaporated coconut milk instead of Half and Half and a half cup of sugar for the flan part. It came out very good.
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