The Cooking Diva Blog: Original Tropical Creations by Chef Melissa De Leon

La Receta del Dia: Flan de Coco y Chocolate

Read the -Got Cacao?- story at TastyDesign!

Today I will share with you one of my favorite desserts: Flan. But, I have to tell you this is not -just a flan-, this is THE FLAN, ladies and gentlemen: get your taste buds ready to experience this unforgettable and delicious beauty.

Flan is a traditional Latin American custard type of dessert, in every country you will find variations. In Panama we have the traditional one, the flan with cheese and the coconut flan. Didn`t find a coconut-chocolate flan, so...why not design one! Enjoy this recipe and bring a little of the tropics to your kitchen at the same time :) You won`t regret it.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup white fine sugar

1 can condensed milk (397 g)

3 large eggs

1-1/2 cups evaporated milk

1-1/2 cups water

1 cup dry coconut

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350º F.

2. Make the caramel melting the sugar, medium heat, without stirring. Cover evenly the bottom of your baking dish.

3. Beat the eggs, chocolate, condensed milk, evaporated milk an water until well combined. Add coconut and stir well.

4. Carefully pour mixture evenly into the baking dish or individual ramekins.

5. Place the baking dish or individual ramekins on a larger baking pan and put in the oven. Once in the oven, add carefully hot water to the large baking pan until it reaches approx. 1 inch. This is called -Baño Maria-. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes if you are baking it in just 1 large dish, OR bake for 45 minutes approx. if you are using small ramekins. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

6. Store in the fridge and unmold (use a knife to separate the edges) just before serving them.

Enjoy,

Chef M

P.S. Do not forget read the -Got Cacao?- story at TastyDesign!

by Chef Melissa - CookingDiva · February 13, 2005 · 02:26 PM
Permalink · Comments (14) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: RECETAS - Postres

Woah. Suena delicioso este flan. Lo que me impresionó fue la cantidad de chocolate. Solo con 1 cucharada basta? Creo que lo prepararé para darle una grata sorpresa a mi hermana como regalo de cumpleaños. Gracias!

Comment by: Antonio • Feb 13, 2005 7:59:31 PM

Hola Antonio, gracias por visitarnos! con una cucharada le da un leve sabor a chocolate, pero si te gusta mas---yo creo que hasta 1/4 taza de cocoa en polvo puedes utilizar. En este caso queria que supiera mas a coco :) Saludos!

Comment by: Melissa • Feb 13, 2005 9:00:19 PM

Thank-you for translating the recipes into English also!! I'm using them already. lynn hoffer
----
Lynn: glad to have you back! I have been thinking on preparing empanadas (and chimichurri sauce) from scratch SOON, with lots of pics. I have not forgotten your request---Hugs,
Melissa

Comment by: lynn hoffer • Feb 14, 2005 8:44:52 PM

Gracias por el tip Melissa. Este fin voy donde mi mother a preparar el dichoso flan. Te contaré como me fue. jejeje. Gracias! Otra cosa, si sabes de más bloggers panameños me cuentas ya que estoy tratando de hacer una lista exhaustiva de bloggers panameños y hasta quien sabe un meeting para que todos nos conozcamos y puede que hasta salgan algunas ideas de negocios? Cuidate y nos vemos!

Comment by: Antonio • Feb 15, 2005 2:27:41 AM

hello..
i'm from malaysia.
just discovered your blog after several blog hopping. anyway, this flan surely looks yummy. i'm gonna try it soon. i've tried the mexican flan before and it turned out to be too sweet.

i hope u will keep on posting delicious recipe. and hopefully you'll write it in english as i dont understand spanish.
-----
Dear Safina: Thank you for visiting our blog! You are going to enjoy this flan, it is not to sweet. I am getting ready to post some more new
recipes....please stop by the blog soon :)

Comment by: safina • Mar 2, 2005 9:25:11 PM

Hello! Finally, I reached a Hispanic food blog in English! I should have been watching the IMBB aggregator more diligently.

How interesting to find a flan recipe with coconut! And it also looks very enticing.

We also have a plain version of a flan in the Philippines, called leche flan. Now it seems like a redundant term but that is how it has evolved in our part of the tropics. There's also another version which uses calabasa. :)

Thanks for translating your recipes!

Comment by: Karen • Mar 8, 2005 5:38:02 PM

Muchas gracias por esta receta. Me gusto mucho.
Lo prefiero sin el coco, solamente con un poco de chocolate. Pero me salio mmmmmm.
Gracias!!!
----
BUENOS DIAS YADHI! que rico! me encanta que te haya gustado. Las recetas son solamente una guia en cuanto a las medidas e ingredientes...el resultado final esta en sus manos, dependiendo de los ingredientes que tengan disponibles y los gustos personales de cada uno. Abrazos,
Melissa

Comment by: Yadhi Plascencia • May 30, 2005 10:15:23 PM

Hola quiero intentar esta receta para mi esposo. Ojala que le guste. Un preguntota crees que si uso las leches light sabra igual? yo se que el azucar no lo puedo reemplazar por Splenda or Equal porque se necesita derretir pero que tal las leches?
Bueno si puede alguien contestarme si lo ha intentado con leches light.

Gracias,
Ale

Comment by: Ale • Jun 7, 2005 3:25:20 PM

Hola Ale, con leche light queda rico tambien, no quedara tan firme como con la leche regular pero te quedara muy bien. Dejalo enfriar MUY BIEN antes de desmoldarlo, de preferencia podrias ponerlo en moldes pequenos y servirlos en ellos :)
Con respecto a la esplenda, yo la he usado en esta receta sin ningun inconveniente---de nuevo te recomiendo usar moldes pequenos para que no tengas problemas al desmoldarlos.

Comment by: Chef M • Jun 7, 2005 4:38:18 PM

Hi Chef M,

We are considering moving our family to Panama, so we have a question ... Is SPLENDA sweetener available freely in Panama? What forms of it are available? And lastly, what is the price and where is the best place to get it? Costco?

Kind regards,
Ian.

Comment by: Ian • Nov 5, 2005 5:00:54 PM

Hola Ian! thanks for your visit. Splenda is sold at supermarkets and drugstores all over the country. I assume its less expensive at Costco and Price Mart---but to tell you the truth I do not know the price right now. Will check it out and send it to you by email next week (I am out of the city now---)

Comment by: melissa • Nov 6, 2005 5:32:33 PM

Thanks so much Melissa!

My Wife Jennifer is the lady who wrote the very first cookbooks in the world based on Splenda, and we have a small publishing business now (Cookbooks) which oversees her 7 cookbooks, 3 of which are national bestsellers. I'm not sure if you can see the URL I entered as part of my personal particulars, but if not, here it is: www.Low-Carb.us <-- This is where you can meet Jen, me and our family. To be honest, we would love to live in Panama, we are just really not sure how to go about that yet. Even so, "Dreams are like stars" ... very necesary for navigation throughout life, and so one day soon, we will be living there.

All Jennifer's books are based on SPLENDA, whether for low-carbing or for Diabetes control. Her books are very much oriented to desserts (I know many of you in this blog would like that) of which I see so many beautiful examples in this Blog. They really are mouth-watering! I would like to encourage all of you who contribute to Keep up the good work! 15 years ago, Jen started with a dream ...

Coming to Panama for us is for more than just the beauty of Panama, it is for a happy continuation of a very long-running love-story. This story I write, and since it was freely given to us, we decided to give it away freely too: www.Jenny.ws

Looking forward to hearing from you folks on SPLENDA and other issues ...

Bye for now,
Ian.

Comment by: Ian • Nov 6, 2005 7:26:34 PM

Ian! thanks for your visit---and for the links to your wife's cookbooks. Will take a look at them soon and also will send you the splenda info asap (I am not in town right now :). Best!

Comment by: melissa • Nov 10, 2005 10:12:08 AM

No Problem Melissa, no rush, we are planning to be in Panama city only next year.

Regards,
Ian.

Comment by: Ian • Nov 12, 2005 11:57:16 AM