Say Goodbye to Fall with Pumpkin Flan

This Thanksgiving I wanted to go a little nontraditional while still having the dessert feel like it fit the theme.  I recently celebrated my five year anniversary with my boyfriend Justin in Puerto Rico, and the entire time I was searching for good flan.  Still not sick of it, I decided to take a stab at making my own flan, having only ever made it once before over ten years ago for class when I was in 6th grade (so I probably had lots of help from a parent...and it leaked all over my mother's car...but that's a story for another time).  Originally I planned on making Queso Flan, since it was my favourite we had on our trip, but in honor of Thanksgiving I wanted to find a recipe with Pumpkin too.  This time my flan came out perfectly!  It was silky and creamy, full of spices from the ginger, cloves and cinnamon.  It had the perfect touch of sweetness from the caramel and the pumpkin, and tartness from the cream cheese.  This recipe is sure to impress anyone, and it was just as delicious, yet more complex, than the flan we had in Puerto Rico.  Justin brought it to his office and said it was a huge hit amongst his colleagues.  So if you have some cans of pumpkin still lingering in your cabinet, make sure you try this recipe!

Pumpkin Flan

Recipe adapted from Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy
Made Gluten Free by Jesicakes
Makes 1 10'' pyrex dish, or 4 2-4 cup pyrex dishes

Ingredients for the Caramel

- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup of water

Ingredients for the Custard

- 12 oz can of evaporated milk (I used 2%)
- 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 5 eggs
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp white rice flour*
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 2 tsp gluten free vanilla
- Boiling Water**

*I used white rice flour because it's mild and ground finely.  Brown rice would probably be okay but possibly affect the texture a bit.  You can also use 1 Tbsp of cornstarch (I just didn't have any)
**You will need a larger container to place your pyrex dishes in.  The flan bakes in a water bath.  I just used a large, disposable aluminum tin.

Preheat the over to 300˚F.  Get together all your ingredients first.  You should make the custard and have it ready to go before you start making the caramel.

Combine the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar, eggs, spices, white rice flour, and vanilla in a blender (basically all the ingredients listed under the custard ingredients minus the boiling water).

Now, I did not have a blender large enough to do this.  So what I did was mix it all as best as possible in my KitchenAid Mixer first.  I then used a ladle and scooped it into the blender in two batches.

Blend it until it's smooth.

Strain custard through a sieve into a large bowl and set aside.  You will probably lose a lot of the physical grains of the spices, don't worry though.  I was concerned it wouldn't still have flavor but it definitely still did.

Time to cook the caramel.  Combine 1 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup water in a medium, deep, heavy saucepan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved.  Around 3-5 minutes.

Increase to medium-high and boil without stirring until the caramel turns copper brown.  Around 10-15 minutes.  You can let it go for the first half of the time, but be careful once it begins to brown because it can go from caramel colored to burnt pretty quickly.

Pour the caramel into the bottom of your pyrex dish or dishes.  BE CAREFUL! Sugar burns are very painful and often severe.

Immediately pour the strained custard mixture into the bowls.  It doesn't rise really, but keep it 1/2'' below the top of the container probably to be safe.  I used three 2 cup containers and one 4 cup container.

Place these dishes in a tin.  Place in the oven, and fill the tin with the boiling water halfway up the sides of the flan dishes.

Bake 50-60 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center of the flan comes our clean.  The centers can still jiggle a bit as long as the knife is clean.

Cool for 30 minutes.

Chill in the fridge for several hours or overnight.  I did mine overnight.

To invert, run a knife along the sides of the dish and gently shake to loosen it.  Invert onto a serving dish and....

Violá! You have the best Pumpkin Flan, if not simply best flan, you've ever had! 

Try to resist the urge to eat the whole thing yourself!  This makes a good deal of flan, so unless you're having a party you'll probably have leftovers.  Store seal/covered in the fridge.  I made mine Wednesday night, and it's still as perfect as it was on Thanksgiving, so I'd say it stays well for around a week in the fridge.