Flan De Coco Ecuadoreana

Chef Kate's Note:

There are a couple of good coconut flan recipes here, but none that are as easy or as fool-proof as this one, which I learned in Ecuador. Not only is it easy, but it minimizes use of utensils and so forth so there is very little cleaning up--and your flan mold will be licked clean.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 3 eggs , separated
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut , grated (if using dried, make sure it is unsweetened)
• ½ cup milk
• 1 (14 ounce) can condensed milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water

Directions:

1. Make sure that the pan in which you are making your flan can be used on the stovetop.
2. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
3. Place the sugar and water in the flan pan (or a tube pan) and heat on medium heat until the mixtures carmelizes and turns a medium brown.
4. Beat the egg whites until stiff.
5. Place the condensed milk, egg yolks, coconut and milk into the blender and blend until well mixed.
6. Slowly fold in the whites until well combined.
7. Pour the mixture into the flan pan (over the caramel) and place the flan pan in a water bath in the oven.
8. Bake for one hour or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
10. When room temperature, unmold carefully by inverting onto a serving plate.
11. The caramel will cover the top and run down the sides.

Reviews

[evelyn/athens]

Lovely flan. Very easy to make, and what sets this one apart from the others is how the whites are beaten separately and then folded in. Because of this, the flan bakes up lighter and higher than traditional flan recipes. Really loved the coconut in this - I toasted it lightly first, before adding. A keeper.

[rosslare]

So good! I also toasted the coconut lightly, first.

[zainab23]

This was my first ever flan. Everyone who tried it loved it and asked how I made it and it was super easy. Reminds me of Ecuador! Mine had three layers, caramel on top, custard in the middle and a coconut cake layer on the bottom. It is something really speacial and fun.